


Ever Since that Night

by AliciasClarke (fyeahgila)



Series: I am just living to be lying by your side [1]
Category: The Rolling Stones
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Cute, Falling In Love, First Meetings, Fluff, Gentleness, M/M, Making Love, Mild Smut, Single Dad AU, keith is oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-10-17 20:31:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17567471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fyeahgila/pseuds/AliciasClarke
Summary: Keith is being dragged to a pub by his two best friends who want him to meet a new girl after his ex cheated on him, leaving him and his baby son behind. Instead of chatting up some girl, though, he gets pulled into another guy's relationship drama, ending up saving him from his annoying ex...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,  
> well, I don't know what to tell you. I've had this story in my mind for quite some weeks now and today I just sat down and started writing it :D actually I was thinking about three chapters that could also be read separately, but let's see how things will turn out ;) hopefully you enjoy this story, because I honestly loved writing it so far!

London - 1973

“What about the brunette one over there? With the white top”, Johnny meant, inconspicuously pointing out a woman chatting to some of her friends three tables away from theirs. 

“I don't know”, Keith gave back, for what felt like the 100th time, trying really hard not to roll his eyes. 

It had been going on like this for a while, to be precise, since he'd stepped foot inside that pub less than an hour ago, accompanied by his two best friends. They'd all but dragged him there that night, having decided that Keith needed to put himself out there again to find a new girl and they seemed completely determined to go through with their plan. 

“Oh, come on, mate”, Ronnie complained now. “You can't just always say ‘I don't know’, or ‘I don't like her choice of clothing’, or ‘She looks like she's doing crack’ or some bullshit excuse like that, man! How are you supposed to find someone if you're that picky?” 

“Yeah man, he's right. Also, that one truly looks nice, you gotta admit that”, Johnny threw in, taking a sip of his Guinness. 

“Maybe...I just really don't think a pub's the right place to find someone who...who actually cares”, Keith returned, almost sheepish, staring at the pint in front of him. 

Truth was, he had only agreed to come along in order for his friends to finally get their will and to stop nagging him. But he neither cared, nor did he expect, to meet someone new right there and right then. He wasn't even sure whether he actually wanted to get a new girlfriend, or was ready to, because he surely has had enough from his ex, who was a complete and utter letdown. 

“Where else would be the right place? The mail office? The supermarket?”, Ronnie asked, being jokey, but still looking at him incredulously. 

“I don't know”, Keith repeated for the umpteenth time and felt increasingly annoyed at his friends’ stupid plan. 

Obviously, he was aware that they only meant well. They just wanted the best for him, but he wasn't sure whether their approach actually was the right one. 

“Well, where did you meet Helen?”, Johnny asked, rhetorically. “At a pub”, he answered for Keith, giving him a lopsided grin. 

“Yeah and look how that turned out”, he replied, not without sarcasm in his voice, glaring at his friend over the table between them. 

He'd met Helen a little over three years ago, actually at a pub, while Ronnie and himself were playing there with their band. She was funny and brilliant, with a beautiful smile, adorable freckles, and a head full of curly blonde hair. She was from Connemara, Ireland, playing fiddle in a folk band and he'd loved her from the moment they laid eyes on each other. Keith had honestly believed that she was the one and they'd fallen hard and fast, being madly in love. After a few months spent in total bliss, Helen had gotten pregnant, admittedly by accident, they hadn’t planned on having kids that soon, but nevertheless, Keith had been absolutely thrilled about it.  
While he had barely been able to await finally becoming a dad, in retrospect, he had to admit that Helen always had been a little less amazed, a little less excited than Keith himself. But he'd figured that she probably just was nervous about her new role as a mum, heck, he'd been anxious as well sometimes, still was. What he hadn't expected, though, was their relationship deteriorating and going more and more downhill once their baby boy was born. In the end, she'd secretly started cheating on Keith with some snobby guy, almost twenty years older. And finally, she'd left him, going back to Ireland with that guy, leaving Keith behind in London with a one-and-a-half-year-old toddler. 

Even though this had been about eight months ago by now, obviously Keith still felt bitter about what happened. Not only for the fact that she'd simply left her son behind, not even bothering to call for his birthday, but that he'd actually loved her, thinking she was a different, a better person. So, to him, the fact that he wasn't ready to jump into a new relationship, wasn't that far-fetched. And even though he was aware that his friends just wanted to see him happy, he still was getting increasingly grumpy about that whole procedure going on. 

“Mate...just ‘cause she was a total disaster doesn't mean there aren't any other nice girls out there”, Johnny tried to persuade him, but Keith only sighed. He hadn't even drowned his first pint yet and already was beyond annoyed. That's why he gulped down the rest of his beer, wishing for some harder liquor to endure this. 

“I'm going to the loo”, he excused himself in order to get away from his friends for a while.

“Aight, in the meantime we'll be looking for someone else whom you might fancy”, Ronnie suggested, and Keith was really frustrated by now. 

“Stop that! I don't need you to pick someone out for me, okay?”, he blurted, getting up way faster than intended and almost spilled his drink. 

“But mate, we just…”, Ronnie started, but didn’t get far. 

“No, Ronnie, let it go, alright?”, he told him, harsher than it needed be. 

“Keith, we just want to help…”, Johnny stepped in now, trying to calm him down, but it only made him a little angrier. 

“I don't need your help”, Keith only said, grumpily. 

“Well, you also didn't complain when my girlfriend offered to babysit Davie tonight, so we could go out”, Ronnie remembered him. 

“Because I thought that we were gonna have some fun!”, he threw back at him, voice a little raised now and he could see out of the corner of his eyes, how some people in the very well-visited pub turned their heads towards him. 

“Calm down, mate, it's fine”, Johnny meant, but Keith only gave him an angry glare, before wriggling through the chairs to get away from them and over to the loos. 

The pub was so well-crowded that night, due to the FA cup game between Chelsea and Arsenal being broadcast, that surprisingly there was even a small queue of blokes waiting in front of the Gents, but Keith didn't mind. The longer it took him to get back to his overly-eager friends, the better. At least he'd have some time to settle, because he knew it wasn't fair to be mad at them. 

Keith didn't really pay attention to the guy in front of him who was looking around as if he was searching for someone. Well, at least he didn't pay attention to him, until that guy grabbed him by the arm, without any warning, yanking Keith closer towards him.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?”, he complained, trying to get out of the other man's surprisingly strong grip. He appeared way too slender in his skinny jeans and light coloured mandarin collar shirt to be that strong. 

“Shh, just do me a favour and play along, please?”, he asked Keith in a soft voice, staring at him out of light blue eyes that looked at him almost pleadingly. 

“What’s going on?”, he wanted to know as the guy actually possessed the nerve to wrap one of his arms around Keith's neck, pulling him into some kind of embrace. 

“Are you fucking pissed, let me go!”, Keith demanded, struggling out of the others hug, but he just wrapped his arms closer around him.

“I'll explain it all later, just play along”, he whispered, close to Keith's ear. “I'm just trying to hide, please help me out here? Please?”, the other man said, his voice pleading now, and with a sigh, Keith awkwardly returned a one-armed hug, asking himself what he did wrong to deserve an evening like that. 

Luckily, it didn't even take another ten seconds before the door to the toilet opened and the guy finally let go of him, all but diving into the small room, slamming the door shut behind him. Keith was left there, completely dazzled, wondering whether that guy was probably high. 

As the door opened again and the man let his gaze wander around almost anxiously, before finally stepping out, making way for Keith. “I'm so sorry, I'll explain this to you”, he said, while passing him, as Keith just rolled his eyes, thinking that probably it might be better to not even know. 

But when he was done and left the loo, the guy was leaning against a wall, dragging on a cigarette, smiling at him almost coyly as their eyes met. 

“I'm really sorry”, he repeated, as soon as Keith was close enough to hear him. He wasn't even sure why he was listening to him and didn't just go over to Johnny and Ronnie again. Maybe because he still was annoyed by them. And also because he was just a tiny bit curious what that man had to say in his defense for just randomly forcing some stranger to hug him. 

“Let me buy you a drink, it's the least I can do, you must think I'm completely bonkers”, the man offered, sounding apologetically. 

“Okay, fine”, Keith agreed, realising that this might be better than his friends torturing him about going over to talk to some girl he didn't give a damn about. 

“By the way, I'm Mick”, the guy introduced himself, as they’d made their way through the crowd over to the bar and were waiting to be served

“I'm Keith”, he replied, for the first time really looking at the other man. He was around Keith's age, maybe a few years younger, in his late 20s. His features were delicate, pretty even, and his mouth was uncommonly large. 

“What do you want to drink?”, Mick asked him, and Keith noticed that he still, even though he tried to be subtle about it, was letting his gaze wander around over all the many people in the pub. 

“Smithwicks”, he meant, and Mick ordered.

With their drinks in hand, they weaved through all the football fans and other people until they finally found an empty bar table in the smaller room of the pub. For a moment Keith wondered whether his friends were waiting for him to come back to where they were in the main room, but he dismissed that thought quickly. Probably they were assuming that he'd met some girl and hit it off with her or something like that. 

“So...care to tell me what was this about earlier? You always just make random strangers hug you?”, he wanted to know, not without a somewhat amused grin, as they'd put their drinks down. 

“Actually, that's how I chat people up, yeah”, Mick replied, his eyes sparkling mischievously, and Keith snorted. 

“Nah, I was hiding from my ex who cheated on me and now is kinda following me, trying to get me back. But I've had enough of that crap”, Mick answered honestly, sighing before he took a sip of his beer. 

“Is that why you're always checking the room, trying to make sure she isn't showing up again?”, Keith asked, thinking that Mick was probably exaggerating the whole thing a little. 

“Yeah...only that my ex is a lad”, Mick admitted carefully, lowering his voice in order to not be overheard and he looked at Keith, somewhat worried for his reaction. 

“Oh”, Keith only made upon this revelation, not sure what else to say. He wasn't one of these homophobic arses like probably quite some of the guys around them. In fact, he mainly just didn't care what other people did or didn't do with their life. “I'm sorry he's being such a git”, he added after a moment, watching Mick's features relax. Probably he'd expected Keith to shout mean insults at him and tell him to piss off. 

“He's a stupid arse”, Mick complained. “Like can you imagine, he left his fucking wife for me and then ended up cheating on me with her. Just to tell me later that he really didn't mean it and he only wanted to be with me. And I actually gave him another chance, but I caught him with her again and left him...and now he just cannot leave me be. Doesn't stop calling and stuff, no matter how often I tell him to just fuck off…”, he ranted and instead of being annoyed by it, surprisingly, Keith found it somewhat refreshing not to be the person with the most fucked-up relationship for once. 

“Guess some people just are fucking idiots...no matter whether they're blokes or girls”, he returned with an ironic grin. 

“Cheers to that”, Mick meant, and they bumped their glasses. “Oh, for fuck's sake”, he cursed only a moment later with a slightly panicked expression on his face, just as from the main room some loud cheering erupted. Apparently, Chelsea had scored a goal. But Keith didn't care about this at all right now, since Mick awkwardly shuffled behind his back. 

“What is it?”, he wanted to know instead. 

“It's him, over there”, Mick whispered, ducking down a little behind Keith's back. “Shit, he's coming over here”, he sighed, as Keith watched a thin, blond man dressed in a bright yellow shirt approach. Something was off with his otherwise almost perfect, slim face and only as he stood in front of them, giving Keith a condescending look, he realised that his left pupil was unnaturally dilated, making this eye appear way darker than his right one. 

“Who is this?”, he demanded to know, looking between Mick and Keith, who already couldn't stand that guy, simply for the way he was gazing at him and the voice in which he was talking. 

“It's none of your fucking business”, Mick gave back, glaring at the other man, as he stepped out from behind Keith. 

“I just want to talk to you again”, the blond man started to argue, but Mick wouldn't have any of it. 

“There's nothing more to talk about, David, leave me alone”, he said, almost forcefully. 

“Come on, just give me one more chance”, the guy started pleading. 

“Piss off, I don't want to see you again”, Mick made it clear to him. 

“Please, Mike”, David said, reaching out to touch Mick's arm but he flinched back. 

“Don't fucking touch me!”

“Leave him alone, you heard him”, Keith threw in, not quite sure why, because he wasn't one to interfere with other people's drama. 

“And who are you to tell me that?”

“Just piss the fuck off, alright, man? I don't want to fight”, Keith told him, holding up his hands in an appeasing gesture. 

“Then you should have kept your mouth shut”, he almost shouted at him. 

“Stop it, David. Seriously, I mean it, fuck off right now! I don't want to see you again!”, Mick yelled at him and looked like he was about to throw his drink at him. 

“Is there a problem?”, some heavy looking guy, probably a bouncer, now threw in. Apparently, he was around for all the football fans, but Keith was almost glad he’d stepped in, because he honestly didn't want to get dragged into this argument even further. 

“That guy's bothering my mate here”, Keith explained, shooting Mick's ex an angry look. 

“I'm not, I just…”, David started stammering and Keith was well aware that he'd do shit mentioning his exact relation to Mick in front of a rough seeming bloke who’d probably beat him up if he knew about it. 

“Come on, mate, we don't want any trouble here, I think it's better if you're leaving now”, the bouncer said, grabbing David by the arm, dragging him away. 

“Thanks”, Mick mumbled as soon as they were out of sight and Keith only nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Do you care for a smoke? I could use some fresh air right now”, Mick added then and Keith agreed, because he actually felt like he could use a cigarette. 

They left the pub through the back exit that lead to a small alleyway. There was no one else around as Mick offered Keith a smoke and lighted it for him. 

“I'm so sorry, I probably ruined your evening with my crap. Were you there to watch the game?”, Mick inquired as they were leaning against the wall outside, dragging on their cigarettes. 

“No, I just came here with some mates for a drink...and you didn't ruin my evening”, Keith returned honestly. 

“Oh, you cannot be serious”, Mick said incredulously. “I mean who prefers getting pulled into someone else's bullshit over having a nice pint with their mates?”, he asked with a chuckle. 

“Well, if these mates only dragged you there in order to find someone to set you up with against your will”, Keith answered with a slight grin, dragging on his cigarette as Mick started laughing a little.

“Why do they wanna set you up? You don't strike me as a guy who needs help with that”, Mick wanted to know, turning around to look at him, still with a grin on his face. “Who wouldn't wanna be chatted up by a handsome lad like you?”, he added, smiling, and Keith felt his cheeks grow a little hot. 

“Uhm...it's a long story”, he only gave back, somewhat evasively, looking at the ground, taking another drag from his cigarette. 

“It's okay, you don't have to tell me”, Mick reassured him. “Also, thanks again for standing up for me earlier.” 

“No problem, it's fine”, Keith meant, lifting his gaze and smiled at him lightly. Mick mirrored his smile and for a moment, they were simply standing there in an empty back alley, drenched in the stale light of a neon lamp above their heads, quietly holding each other's gaze. 

“I...I know I already bothered you enough tonight. And you probably just wanna go back inside to your friends, but…”, Mick started after a while, but drifting off again, biting his bottom lip. 

“But what?”, Keith inquired, encouraging him to go on. 

“It's stupid, really…”, Mick insisted, but Keith kept looking at him expectantly. 

“Could you maybe walk me home? It's not even a mile from here, and I...I'm just a bit freaked out about David probably waiting there for me…and I totally get it if you want to go back inside, you've already done more than enough for me tonight…”, Mick was rambling on, until Keith disrupted him.

“It's alright...I don't really want to see my friends anymore tonight, they were being too annoying”, Keith replied with a grin and Mick chuckled a bit in relief. 

“Thanks”, Mick meant, once again, as they got on their way through nighttime London. 

While walking down the Kensington streets, they ended up talking about everything and nothing. Keith told Mick about his job at the music shop that he owned with Johnny, where they repaired old instruments and sold them again. Mick, in return, mentioned that he was singing in a band, playing two or three gigs every week. But since this wasn't enough to make a living, he also worked at a record shop. Obviously, Keith told him about his time playing guitar in a band as well, leaving out why exactly he'd just stopped playing with Ronnie and the other guys. He wasn't really eager to get into this whole thing with Helen now. Instead, they discussed their favourite musicians and records, figuring out that they actually had a mutual interest in blues and R&B. Like this, they reached Mick's flat in next to no time and Keith even walked him up the stairs to the first floor, just so they could chat for a little longer. 

“Thanks again”, Mick said softly as they were standing in front of his door, smiling at him lightly. “Do you maybe want to come to the gig we're playing the day after tomorrow? I feel like I gotta buy you another drink to make things up to you”, he meant, grinning a little. 

“You don't have to do that...but I'd like to come to your gig”, Keith replied with a smile, wondering whom he would have to talk into looking after Davie for a couple of hours, yet again, as Mick told him where they were playing. 

“Okay, I'm looking forward to seeing you there”, Mick gave back, lightly blushing. 

“Me too”, Keith said in a low voice, grinning a little to himself. “I...I should get going”, he added then, feeling somewhat awkward all of a sudden, because Mick was standing so close, a sweet smile on his big lips, looking at him softly. 

“Yeah”, Mick only nodded and before Keith could do anything else, he’d pulled him into a tight embrace. 

“Get home safely”, he whispered near his ear, quickly brushing Keith’s cheek with his lips in a chaste kiss, before he let go of him. 

“Night, Mick”, is all Keith got out, before Mick disappeared into his flat, while he kept standing outside on the floor for another moment, almost a little dumbfounded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> thanks to everybody who read, liked, or commented on this story so far, I really apprecciate this so much! :)  
> I decided not to write three chapters that could as well be read as separate stories, instead it will just be a regular story with maybe 5 chapters or so :D  
> Hope you enjoy that new one, there's also a part from Mick's PoV for a change ;)

“Ey, mate? Could you do me a favour?”, Keith asked Johnny as they were opening up their instrument shop on Friday morning. 

“What's it?”, his friend wanted to know, stopping on his way from the saleroom to the workshop in the back. 

“Do you have time to watch Davie tonight for a couple hours?” 

He'd spent a lot of time thinking about it. This whole encounter with Mick the other day and his invitation to watch his band play at a club this night. Eventually he'd figured that it couldn't do any harm to do something else for a change, go out to a place by himself that he'd never been to before, without Johnny and Ronnie having to drag him there, and probably make some new friends. Plus, he was honestly curious to see Mick's performance, because a band that managed to book two or three shows a week couldn't be that bad. And for some reason, he really wanted to see the man again, even if they'd met under quite odd circumstances. But talking to him and getting to know him a little had been fun and Keith felt that they were totally on the same high, having so many mutual interests. It was always amazing to meet new people whom you hit it off with that well and it hadn't happened to him in a while. That's why Keith figured he should just go for it and meet Mick again because even though the other had constantly worried about having ruined Keith's evening the other night, actually he had made it better. 

“Why, what are you doing?”, Johnny replied, giving him an astonished look. It barely ever happened that Keith wanted to go out for a night and if so, then Johnny was always there to accompany him. 

“Uh…I...that bloke I know has this band and they're playing a gig…”, he told, not directing his gaze at Johnny but rather at the violin he'd finished to restore the day before and had put it down for display. One could tell that it already must be a few decades old but nevertheless it looked like new again. 

“Do I know that band?”, his friend inquired, sounding quite curious. 

“I don't know”, he shrugged, running his hand over the smooth wood of the violin body. 

“Well, what are they called?”

“Uhm...I don't know?”, Keith repeated, realising that Mick had never mentioned the name of his band and he also hadn't thought about asking. There was just too much that happened that night and he'd been simultaneously way too engulfed and way too distracted in everything.

“And who's that lad?”, Johnny went on questioning him and Keith started feeling like being interrogated. 

“It doesn't matter, you don't know him”, he replied with a sigh, ripping his eyes away from the instrument in front of him.

“How would you know?”, Johnny grinned. “I know a lot of people.” 

“Cause I just met him the other night at that pub”, Keith explained, going over to the salescounter to pull out the folder with orders and tasks. 

“Wait...wait, Ron and I thought you were off with some bird?”, Johnny now gave back, a little in confusion, as he leaned in the doorframe to the workshop. 

“Well, I wasn't…”, Keith replied, somewhat defensively, staring at the supply list that needed an update. He really didn't want to get into that topic again. 

“What then, did you chat up that bloke?”, his friend was joking now and Keith only threw him an irritated and annoyed look.

“We just talked about some stuff, alright?”, he gave back, sounding way more bugged than intended. 

“So, you're asking me to watch your kid for you to be able to go to the gig of some random bloke whom you just met?”, Johnny clarified with a stunned grin on his face, ignoring Keith's grumpy tune. 

“I guess?”, is all Keith could come up with as a reply. 

“Fine, okay, I'll watch my godson, but you're gonna have some fun, alright? Meet some girl, eh?”, Johnny meant, not without smirking at him meaningfully while Keith just rolled his eyes. 

 

As Keith arrived at the club that evening, the concert already had started. It wasn't a big room, so it was fairly crowded, with a small stage at the front and a bar in the back. Keith ordered a pint and then wriggled his way through the crowd until he was standing in fifth or sixth row to get a better look at the stage. The band was consisting of four people, a drummer, a guitar player, a bassist, and Mick on the mic, currently with an acoustic guitar in hand and talking to the audience, telling them about the next song, before starting to play it. 

It was a country song that Keith never had heard before, but he enjoyed the tune and tapped along to the beat with his foot. Mick's voice sounded amazing and his guitar work wasn't bad either, also the other three lads were doing a pretty great job at their instruments. It wasn't at all surprising to Keith that this band got regular gigs, people seemed to like them, at least he really enjoyed what they were delivering. After the first country song, there followed a Chuck Berry cover, and then some upbeat, funky sounding piece that Mick announced as one of their latest self-written songs. Keith loved it and some people in the audience followed Mick's lead and started dancing to it because the tune was so amazing and catchy. The concert went on for almost another hour after that and it was brilliant to feel how all the fun the band obviously was having on stage easily swept over to the audience. There really wasn't any doubt left for Keith why they got booked so often, the real question to him rather was why they weren't any bigger yet, since they clearly showed incredible talent. When they eventually finished their gig and Mick thanked everybody enthusiastically, a wide smile spread on Keith's face and he barely could wait to make his way over to him to tell him how much he'd loved the show.

He started to push his way through the crowd, but before he could reach Mick, who by now had left the stage and was standing at the side of it, some girl with a head of dark brown curls showed up next to Mick. He threw his arms around her, pulling her into a long hug, before pecking her cheek and then her lips. Keith stopped short in his tracks, almost running into some guy, while watching on as Mick and the pretty girl kept talking, heads leaned closely together, his hands placed on her hips. There was no obvious reason why this sight caught Keith so off guard, but he felt like someone had spilled their drink on his face. Dazzled, he wondered whether that woman was his girlfriend and why Mick had made such a fuss about his ex the other night who clearly was a guy. It didn't really make any sense to Keith and he just stood there, while the room was emptying, or people rather moving back to the bar, without him taking notice of it, not able to rip his eyes away from Mick and that dark haired beauty. At least not until Mick looked up, over into his direction, catching him staring. Somewhat embarrassed and still a bit confused, Keith quickly looked away, but in the next moment, Mick was standing in front of him with a huge smile on his face. 

“Hey, you made it”, he meant, pulling Keith into an embrace before he even knew what was happening. Almost awkwardly he hugged him back, slightly getting a déjà vu of how they originally met. 

“Hey”, he finally managed to reply as Mick let off of him. “Yeah, I loved your show, it was amazing”, Keith added then, feeling like what he said seemed kind of banal and didn't do justice to the great performance they'd shown, but Mick kept smiling at him anyway. 

“Glad you enjoyed it. Do you wanna grab a drink?”, Mick asked and Keith only nodded in reply. He shot a quick glance over Mick's shoulder, but the beautiful girl with the dark curls was nowhere to be seen now. 

“Okay, just give me five or ten minutes and I'll meet you at the bar? I gotta help Charlie with the equipment”, he said then.

“Who's Charlie?”, Keith wanted to know. 

“My drummer”, Mick grinned. “Don't tell him I said that, though, he doesn't like it much when I'm calling him that”, he added, winking at him and Keith chuckled. 

“Alright, what do you wanna drink? I'll get it for you in the meantime”, he suggested.

“Same as you”, Mick gave back with another wink, before he made his way back to the stage where his bandmates were already busy with their instruments. 

It didn't take Mick long to join Keith at the bar, but when he did, he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by the pretty girl from before and Keith had to swallow hard because he suddenly felt like he had a frog in his throat and there was really no logical explanation why he reacted that way, other than that she looked stunning with these bright green eyes and porcelain skin contrasted by the dark red dress she was wearing. 

“I'm back”, Mick announced needlessly and then pointed at the woman next to him.

“That's Samantha”, he introduced her. “...but don't call her that, she hates it”, he added, grinning and in a staged whisper, while she playfully shoved his arm. 

“It's Sam”, the dark haired girl said with a brilliant smile, framed by lips painted the same colour as her dress, holding out a hand for Keith to shake it. 

“Keith”, he only managed, before clearing his throat awkwardly. “So, you're Mick's girlfriend?”, he asked, without directly looking at either of them. 

“No...god no”, she replied, laughing a little and Keith had no clue why, but that answer quietly satisfied him for some reason he couldn't name. Or could it be that he was fancying her? She definitely was beautiful and she seemed quite funny and feisty. 

“That one”, she pointed at Mick. “Is insufferable and I couldn't live with him for even one week. We've been there, tried that, didn't end too well”, she explained and it made Keith return her smirk. 

“She doesn't mean it like that”, Mick threw in with a grin. “She's a little insane herself. We cannot be together without getting into the most ridiculous fights and almost ripping each other's heads off…”, he clarified jokingly. 

“So, you're friends?”, Keith inquired, curious now to figure out more about the relation between them, because obviously they were really close with each other. 

“Well...yeah…”, Mick started. 

“He's my fuckbuddy”, Sam disrupted him without batting an eye as Keith felt himself blush lightly at this bold confession. 

“Oh”, he only made, not sure what to reply, so he just took a sip from his beer. 

“Well, under the condition that we're both single...”, Mick meant, catching Keith's eyes, looking at him intensely. 

“Oh...I guess that's...that's reasonable”, he sputtered, quickly averting his gaze because Mick looking at him like that out of his blue eyes made him feel a little awkward. 

“Anyway, I just spotted Maddie over there, I'm gonna say hi”, Sam announced. “Nice to meet you, Keith”, she added, before she was off and Mick dropped down on the bar stool beside him.

“So, what did you get me?”, Mick wanted to know, smiling lightly. 

“Guinness”, Keith simply replied, something else nagging on his mind, as Mick quietly thanked him. 

“I thought you...I didn't know you were into girls too”, he said then in a low voice, his cheeks growing hot. He was aware that this probably wasn't any of his business and he shouldn't’ be asking him that, he barely knew Mick after all. But then again, he was the one who'd introduced Sam to him and had started that whole conversation. It was only natural that he'd get a little curious, especially considering that only two days before, he literally helped him brushing off his ex, a bloke. 

“Well...I guess I like whom I like, right?”, Mick replied with an inscrutable smirk. 

“I guess”, Keith muttered. “Cheers”, he added, lifting his pint and Mick clinked his glass against it, giving him a lopsided grin. 

“So...what about you, did you see anyone around here who sparked your interest? I mean, didn't your friends want to play matchmakers the other night?”, he meant. His tone was conversational, a little teasing even, but the fact that he was biting his bottom lip didn't quite fit the question, it rather made him appear nervous, as though he didn't even want to ask this. 

“I...I didn't really...”, Keith started, dumbfounded by that question, even though he remembered Johnny's teasing words from earlier that day. But it didn't even occur to him. He'd been too fixated on the gig, on the beat of the music, the sound of Mick's voice and his dance moves. 

“I was too focused on your show, it was totally great. Why don't you guys try doing this on a more professional level?”, he eventually gave back and actually it was the truth. Also what else should he tell Mick? That probably he thought the woman he shagged was hot? He liked the man and didn't want to give him a reason to punch him in the face, even though he didn't strike him as someone who'd do that. 

“Well, nobody offered us a record deal so far”, Mick joked. “Uhm...actually we talked about that and decided that it's all fun like it is now. We really enjoy this, you know it's amazing. But anything bigger than that? I don't know, mate...it would be tough to actually make it for longer than a couple months…”

In the end they were philosophising about playing music and writing songs, deciding that they maybe should get together to jam sometime soon. Mick didn't ask him again why he’d stopped playing in the band and Keith was glad about it because he was in a way too good mood now to be dragged down again by telling him the story of how Helen cheated on him and left him alone to care for Davie. They were also discussing some new records that they'd been listening to lately and Mick told him where the record shop was that he worked at. 

“That’s only like three underground stations from where I'm working”, Keith noticed a little surprised. “We're at Leicester Square.”

“You should drop by sometime...I can give you discount”, Mick grinned at him. 

“Really?”

“Well, technically it's my employee discount, but who cares”, he shrugged. “But I mean it, just drop by if you like.” 

“Sure, will do”, Keith replied, mirroring his grin. “Do you care to come outside for a smoke, I think they're closing down soon anyway?”, he added then, already getting up from his bar stool. 

“I should go find Sam...uh... she wanted to come home with me”, Mick said and winked at him suggestively, but his voice actually almost sounded apologetic. 

“Oh...right...yeah”, Keith all but stammered, clearly getting the implication and it made him feel like someone had punched him in the guts. A mixture of what he could only describe as jealousy paired with sadness spread in his chest, ruining the great mood he'd had before. Obviously a girl like Sam would come home with someone like Mick, while Keith would be going home by himself, probably finding Johnny crashing on his couch after he'd tucked in Davie. 

Probably Mick must have seen the defeated look on his face, because he got up and hugged him tightly. 

“Get home safely, Keith”, he meant, smiling at him sweetly and Keith couldn't stand looking at his happy face, so he looked down at the floor instead. 

“Yeah, you too”, he just said, ready to leave, but Mick grabbed his hand and he turned around once more, lifting his gaze to face him. 

“Can I see you again soon?”, Mick asked, almost hopefully. 

Keith only shrugged, not sure what to say. At the moment, he just wanted to go home and sleep. Maybe have another glass of whiskey before that in order to not have to think about Sam being with Mick. 

“Wait…”, the other said, grabbing a paper handkerchief from the bar counter and asked the barkeeper for a pen. Then he noted down his number before handing it to Keith. 

“Just call me, okay?”, Mick meant, giving him another of his intense looks that made Keith feel like he was staring right through his eyes into his mind. 

“Okay”, he grabbed the piece of paper and stuffed it into his jeans pocket, before finally getting out of there, away from Mick and his piercing blue eyes.

 

When he arrived home, it was shortly after 1:30am. He'd gotten off the tube a station early to have to walk a little further and it helped him to clear his mind. At least he didn't feel that burning sting in his chest anymore that called to be gilded with stinging liquor. He’d come to the conclusion that yeah, Sam might be incredibly beautiful, but truth be told, she wasn't even really his type. She seemed way too fierce, too bullheaded, for his taste and the only reason why he had reacted like that, probably was because it had become clear to him once more, how starved he was for something real, something that would last, someone who'd not just leave him again. And not just someone to shag, because Mick and Sam might be friends with benefits but they'd both admitted that they couldn't be together because it just didn't fit. And this wasn't at all what he wanted. A girl could be as pretty as could be, if he didn't feel a deeper connection with her, he wouldn't just shag her simply to get laid. It never had been his style. 

As expected, Johnny was lying on the couch in the living room, in a position that didn't seem to be too comfortable for his neck. Quietly, Keith slipped into the bathroom to splash some water onto his face, got changed into his pyjamas, and then tiptoed into his bedroom. There he only turned up the dim nightstand lamp and walked over to where Davie's little bed was standing in the other corner of the room. A smile spread on his face as he watched his beautiful baby boy sleeping peacefully, closely hugging his favourite cuddly toy, a blue and yellow dinosaur. Carefully he reached down, adjusting the small blanket and then gently brushed some of Davie's dark blond curls out of his tiny face. He was outright adorable and the sight of him made Keith's heart swell with love and joy. 

“Sleep tight, little one”, he whispered softly and with a last look at his sleeping toddler, he finally went to bed himself. 

OoOoOoOoOo

“Is something wrong?”, Sam wanted to know, looking at him carefully, leaning a little back in order to be able to see his face. She was straddling his lap, arms wrapped around his neck and Mick held her by the waist while she'd spread kisses down his jawline and throat. 

“I'm okay”, he said, maybe a little too fast for it to sound believable and he knew she didn't buy it. 

“You tired?”, she inquired, running a hand through his hair on the back of his head. 

He just shrugged, placing his hands on her forearms to loosen her grip on his neck, while biting his bottom lip. Right after the concert, when he’d seen her again after she'd been out of town for the past three months, he'd barely been able to wait to finally be alone with her again. The last time he'd seen her, he'd been with David. By Sam's own rules, they wouldn't be sleeping with each other when one of them was in a relationship with someone else, because she didn't want to complicate things. She always just wanted to have some fun and by now Mick got it. He'd known her for five years, falling in love with her almost right away when they first met, but she’d acted like she didn't care about him for weeks, making him actually woo her. Sex had always been incredible with her, which basically was the only reason they even kept doing this. They'd been together for less than two months, until they agreed that it would be better to just be friends. They could go out, have some fun, shag, everything would be great, but day to day life in a committed relationship had never worked out for them. Mick figured that they simply were too much alike, neither of them liked giving in easily in discussions, they always ended up colliding, clashing heads, until someone was shouting or threatening to throw something. 

“Where's your mind, Mick?”, Sam asked, as she shifted off his lap and sat on the couch next to him, leaning her arm on the backrest, eyeing him carefully. “You're not with me tonight”, she said and it was true. 

Had they gotten out of the club as soon as he'd left the stage, things would have went completely differently. But as it was now, the fact that he was alone in his flat with Sam, the woman who possessed the ability to drive him crazy in so many ways, wasn't as enthralling as it otherwise would have been. Not since he'd seen Keith again. 

He hadn't been sure whether he would actually show up at the club, but when he'd eventually spotted him there after the gig, he barely cared anymore about the fact that he hadn't seen Sam in a while. All he wanted was to spend more time with him, chat, get to know more about him. If Sam wouldn't have run into him first, before Mick had a chance to find Keith, then he'd went outside with him for a smoke, maybe taken a stroll through the city, talking for some more hours. Because talking to Keith came incredibly easy, they always found some new subjects to engulf in, having so many shared interests, he also was funny and quick-witted, and Mick really loved his laugh, it was frolic and contagious. 

“Mick”, Sam said in a soft voice, touching his chin lightly to make him look at her. “What's up? You can tell me, you know that.” 

“I'm sorry, Sam…”, he mumbled, running a hand through his hair, looking at her a little embarrassed. She was still the most mesmerizing woman he'd ever met, he'd taken her as an inspiration for more than just one song. But when looking at her right that moment, he didn't want to shag her, he only saw his good friend in her, who'd always support him in the end, no matter how many times before they'd been at loggerheads.

“There's nothing to be sorry about”, she returned, giving him an honest smile. He knew she wasn't disappointed or mad at him that he didn't want her now. First and foremost she was his friend, and no matter how much she preached the just fun part of their arrangement, she wanted him to be alright. 

“I can't stop thinking about him...”, he admitted, almost inaudible. 

“Who?”, Sam inquired. “David?” 

“No, Keith…”

“The one at the bar?”, she clarified and Mick only nodded. 

“He's really handsome”, she smiled knowingly at him. “I figured there was some vibe there.”

“What?”, he asked a little astonished, brow furrowed. 

“The way he was looking at you and I...couldn't quite figure, though, whether he wanted to punch you and run off with me or the other way round”, she smirked and it made Mick snort. 

“Where do you know him from?”

“Uhm...we met the day before yesterday at a pub. He saved me from David…”, he told and she only chuckled.

“With you it's always been do or die, hasn't it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Mick...you tried kissing me ten minutes after you first laid eyes on me...with Annie, you basically moved in two weeks after you met...”, Sam explained, not in a reproachful voice, though, rather with a hint of amusement and Mick just grinned almost coyly. 

“Well...I guess it doesn't matter anyway, he's straight. His mates tried finding him a new girl”, Mick sighed, running his hand through his hair again, while Sam only snorted.

“As if that ever has stopped you before from at least trying”, his friend reminded him and it made Mick smirk. 

“Do you see him again soon?”, she wanted to know then, looking at him curiously. 

“I asked him to call me.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> thank you all so much for reading, commenting and all, it seriously always makes me smile when I see a new kudo or how many of you just clicked to read it :)   
> I enjoy writing this story so so much, it's my favourite AU with Mick and Keith so far and I hope you like reading it just as much!

Almost a week had passed since Keith went to the club to see Mick’s band play. Lately, there had been a lot going on at the shop, because they'd scored a big job, restoring not only one, but five old pianos for a music school. Adding to an already busy schedule, he had to keep Davie around all day the first two days of the week, since the day nanny he usually brought him to in the mornings and half of the afternoons, had been sick. Having a two year old tumbling around a place like this, filled with dangerous working tools and fragile instruments was obviously far from ideal, but Keith couldn't help himself otherwise. Luckily, they had an assistant, Lucy, who was a student and helped them out a couple times a week. She already was used not only to work the sales counter, but also to keep an eye on Davie, so they just called her in for help. Still, it was a lot to handle, and apart from work and taking care of the little one, Keith barely had time to catch a breath these days. 

It was Thursday, shortly before noon and Keith was taking apart the second of the five pianos, while Johnny was still working the grinding machine on the first, smoothing out the dents in the wood, as the doorbell in the saleroom announced a new customer. When Keith looked up from his handy work, over to the door, he was astounded to find Mick standing there, curiously letting his gaze wander around. He put his tools away and went over, watching a small smile spread on Mick's face as he noticed him approaching. 

“Hi there”, Mick said, raising a hand in greeting. 

“Hey...what are you doing here?”, Keith wanted to know, pretty surprised, because he had expected anyone but Mick. 

“Can't I just drop by and say hi?”, he returned, jokingly, which made a little grin tuck at Keith's lips. 

“Well, I'm on lunch break...and seeing that you told me that you didn't work that far away...I figured, why not stop by...do you maybe want to grab some lunch with me? I mean...if you’ve got time and didn't already eat”, he explained then, appearing almost nervous now, with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. 

“I didn't get around to eat yet”, Keith meant. “But there's so much to do…”

“Oh, so...this isn't a good time right now?”, Mick inquired, his voice sounding somewhat dejected. 

“Well...I mean I gotta eat something, so...I'll just check in with Johnny real quick, okay?”, he suggested, leaving out that he'd actually brought leftovers from the night before. But since Mick had made his way over here already, he didn’t just want to send him away again. It was a nice surprise seeing him and it couldn't do any harm to go out for a short lunch break together. 

Also, he just remembered that he never called Mick back and now mused whether that might be the reason he had showed up here, probably wondering whether Keith just was busy, or whether he didn't want to hang out again. It wasn't that Keith didn't intend on calling him, he just had completely forgotten about it, because there had been so much going on. And he figured that it wasn't quite reasonable to call Mick, asking him to meet up and jam if he didn't even know himself when he had time to do so. After all, he wasn't some girl he desperately wanted to see again, but just a new mate he liked hanging out with and getting to know better. 

“Sure, alright”, Mick replied with a small smile. 

“Just give me a sec”, he was already walking towards the back of the shop where Johnny still was smoothing the wood, now with sandpaper. 

“Oi, Johnny? Do you think you can get along on your own for half an hour or so?”, he asked his friend, who looked up from what he was doing. 

“Yeah, why? Is something up with Davie?”, Johnny wanted to know.

“No, it's all good...I just wanted to grab some lunch with Mick”, he explained and Johnny furrowed his brow. 

“Who's Mick?”

“I went to his gig last week, remember?”, Keith reminded him. 

“Ah right, that gig that caused me neck pain for two days cause I had to sleep on your uncomfortable couch”, Johnny complained, jokingly. “Yeah sure, just go out with your new mate while your old friend stays back, doing all the work”, he added in faked annoyance, but he smirked at him, letting him know he was just kidding. 

“You can come join us if you…”, Keith started, but his friend disrupted him. 

“Nah, I'm not hungry yet, just close the shop when you're leaving, I'll be here in the back”, Johnny returned, good-naturedly. 

“Thanks mate”, Keith said with a little smile directed at the other. 

“Well, I'd be a little more thrilled for you if it was lunch with a new bird instead of lunch with some bloke, but hey”, Johnny teased him and Keith just rolled his eyes at him. 

“Laters”, he simply said, without catering to his friend's last words, and then went back to the saleroom, where he found Mick looking at one of the pedal steel guitars they had on display. 

“You know how to play these?”, Keith asked him, as Mick turned around to him. 

“Not really...I usually stick to acoustic guitars...but I also have a Fender Stratocaster”, Mick told him. “What are you playing?”

“Ah, mostly a Telecaster...I also have a Gibson Firebird and some acoustic ones…”, Keith said. “Also, we're good to go, Johnny isn't hungry anyway”, he added with a grin. So, Keith grabbed his leather jacket and they left the shop, still talking about guitars. 

“Do you play the pedal steel?”, Mick wanted to know as they walked down the street a few metres towards where some pubs and diners were. 

“Maybe a song, or two...my mate Ronnie, he's a crack in it, though. Really knows how to handle these things”, he gave back. 

“That's neat. You guys were in a band together, right?”

“Yeah...how about some fish'n'chips?”, Keith inquired as they passed by a small pub and stopped to check the menu. 

“It's fine with me”, Mick returned with a grin, so they went inside, found one of the last free tables between all the other people who were also just taking their lunch there, and placed their orders.

“Seems like work is busy for you at the moment?”, Mick questioned as they were waiting for their food to arrive. 

“It was a bit of a wild week, yeah”, Keith admitted. “We got an order from a music school, restoring some old pianos. I also had to have my son around at the shop for a couple days cause the day nanny I bring him to was sick.”

“You have a son?”, Mick sounded quite astonished about these news and stared at him out of wide blue eyes. 

“Yeah, Davie”, he simply said with a smile, as Mick still kept looking at him somewhat staggered at that revelation. 

“How old is he?”, the other man wanted to know after a moment, obviously curious now. 

“Just turned two a few weeks ago...wait”, Keith meant, pulling out his wallet to show Mick a picture. Ronnie had taken it about a month ago, Davie was sitting on Keith's lap and both of them were excitedly waving into the camera. 

“He's adorable...looks a lot like his dad”, Mick commented, a little smile creeping onto his face as his gaze wandered from the picture in Keith's hand to his face and back again. 

“Yeah...only the curls he got from his mum...”, Keith mentioned quietly. 

“What about his mum, couldn't she take him?” Mick asked the question Keith was dreading because he really didn’t like talking about what happened. But it was only logical that he'd want to know. And since he also knew quite a few private things about Mick, it probably only was fair to tell him. They were mates after all. 

“She...uh...well, she just left. Went back to Ireland with some other guy. It's been a while...”, Keith said, busying himself with putting the picture back into his wallet. 

“I'm sorry”, his new friend offered. “It must have been tough being all by yourself with a baby”, he said, just as their food was brought over.

“It's okay...we’re getting along by now. But yeah, it was rough in the beginning...luckily, my best friends are happy to help out a lot of the time”, Keith told him, trying some of the chips. “What about you, do you have any kids?”

“Me? No, I...I never really thought about that yet, I guess…also I quite enjoy my life as it is now...”, Mick returned, obviously taken by surprise by this question, as he just wanted to have a bite from his meal. 

“Yeah?”, Keith prompted him to go on, because he wanted to hear more. 

“You know, playing with the band a lot and all, just jamming whenever we can, having that freedom, just staying out late with friends and stuff like that, it's tough to organise with kids…and you also need to find the right person to have them and raise them with...”, Mick explained and Keith nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean...uh...it's why I'm not playing with Ronnie and the boys anymore. It's kinda impossible to manage...”, he sighed a little. It was one thing to play something on acoustic guitar to his boy, Davie loved that. But taking him along when they plugged in their amps, drank beer, and sometimes smoked some weed? That was something entirely else and nothing a two year old should be exposed to. Probably if Helen still was in the picture, it would be easier to handle, it surely would. But the way it was now, it just didn't work out otherwise. 

“Yeah, I figured”, Mick nodded in understanding. “But hey, I meant it when I said we need to jam together”, he remembered him and gave him a lopsided grin which Keith returned. 

“I was thinking about that earlier, too”, he meant, before taking some more bites of his fish. It surely would be fun to finally make some music again for once. If he got around to playing these days, then just some strumming around while tuning the guitars at the shop. He hadn't played on his own electric guitars in months. Though he often used the acoustic one to play lullabies to Davie, but that was about it. 

“Mick? Did you...did you decide to stop by because I didn't call you back?”, Keith asked after a moment, since It had been nagging him a little. He didn't mean to be rude, it simply had been a crazy week. 

“Uhm...I...I kinda might have”, Mick admitted, not directly looking at him, while he was clearly blushing. “I'm sorry, I didn’t want this to be weird…”, he mumbled, directed at his half empty plate. 

“It's fine, I don't mind”, he reassured him and it seemed like Mick visibly relaxed at his words. Actually, he was glad that Mick had dropped by, it was always fun being around him and after all the recent stress it was a nice change to have lunch together. 

“I just like hanging out with you, Keith, I really do”, he confessed looking at him almost coyly now. 

“It's okay, I like hanging out with you too”, Keith confirmed with a smile that Mick returned at him. 

For a moment, Mick was holding his gaze, looking at him softly. Keith felt oddly reminded of the night they met, when he’d walked Mick home and he was looking at him the very same way. It made his heart skip a beat and he felt a little awkward, until he eventually averted his eyes. He didn't know what it was, couldn't pinpoint it, but there was something about Mick that he couldn't put proper words on, but which fascinated him. Mick was somewhat of a mystery to him, because on one hand, he clearly loved to be the centre of attention, especially when on stage. The way he dressed and moved made it quite obvious that he enjoyed that. He was incredibly charming and amazingly funny, clearly having a talent to captivate people. But on the other hand, he often appeared outright conscious and shy, abashed even. At least in some situations like the one right now. 

“I guess I should get back to work”, Mick said after a moment, ripping Keith out of his train of thoughts. “It's been way too long already, but it's gonna be alright.”

“Yeah...me too. Johnny might wonder whether I got lost”, Keith agreed jokingly. 

After paying, they left the pub and walked back the short route to Keith's shop in companionable silence. It felt great spending some time with someone other than Johnny or Ronnie for once. As much as Keith loved them, sometimes he felt like he just always was doing the very same things every single day and it seemed almost annoying. Making a new friend was a most welcome change. 

“It was nice seeing you again, mate”, Keith meant as they reached the shop, stopping in front of the show window displaying a variation of instruments. 

Mick smiled at him in reply. “We got this little gig tomorrow night...do you maybe want to come?”

“I'd like to...last week was real fun, but...I totally cannot make Johnny watch Davie yet again”, Keith excused himself. 

He couldn't expect that of his friend. Asking Ronnie wasn't an option either, because he knew he was playing a gig as well, since he'd only asked him the day before if he'd be there. Johnny probably would want to go there anyway. And even if there was someone to watch Davie, he couldn't just decline Ronnie's invitation and then show up for Mick’s show instead, it didn't feel right.

“Oh, sure...yeah. I get that you've got your little one to take care of. Don't worry, it was just an idea”, Mick replied, not looking at him directly and Keith somehow got the impression that he was a little disappointed about his answer. 

“Maybe I can talk Ronnie and his girlfriend into taking care of him for a couple hours this weekend...I mean, if you wanna get together and jam a little?”, he suggested instead, smiling at Mick reassuringly. 

“Sounds like a nice plan, I'd love that”, the other replied, mirroring his smile and gave Keith another one of his intense stares. 

“Okay, I'll call you then to let you know”, he meant, averting his eyes slightly because it made him get somewhat edgy when Mick was looking at him like that. 

“Alright. See you soon, Keith”, Mick returned and then pulled him into a tight embrace. This time, Keith wasn't so taken by surprise by it and actually managed to hug him back properly. 

“See you”, he said, as Mick let go of him again and then waved goodbye with that sweet smile of his on his face, before walking over to the next tube station. 

Keith watched him cross the street and then turned around to go back into the shop, where Johnny was waiting for him. 

“You were gone for over an hour, man”, he said by way of greeting, giving him an annoyed look and the smile he still had on his face crumbled immediately. 

“I’m sorry, mate...I didn't even realise time was flying that fast”, Keith apologised. “I didn't mean to leave you all by yourself here for that long.”

“Yeah, well, don't make it a habit…”, Johnny urged him. “And that guy was Mick?”, he added then, for some reason in a grumpy voice. 

“I totally won't, I promise, mate...and yeah, that was Mick”, Keith gave back. 

“Seems like one of these pretty boys who only care about their looks...”, his friend muttered. 

“You didn't even meet him”, he threw in, appalled about the way Johnny was thinking of his new friend. 

“Well, I saw him. Didn't think you'd hang out with guys like that”, Johnny commented with a shrug. 

“What do you mean?”, Keith wanted to know, because he didn't understand where all of this was coming from all of a sudden. Of course, he could see that Johnny was angry at him for making him work all by himself, but that was not a reason to drag Mick into it. 

“He's a snob, mate. And the way he hugged you? I hug my girlfriend like that”, Johnny snorted now and Keith had no clue why he'd say something like that

“You don't even have a girlfriend…”, he only gave back, not sure what Johnny wanted from him. 

“Yeah, well, at least I’m getting laid and don't just go out on lunch dates with snobby beauty princesses”, Johnny all but spat at him. 

“What the fuck is your problem, mate?”, Keith wanted to know, angered now by all the things Johnny dared to say about Mick although he hadn't even talked to him in person for only one second. He wasn't even that mad about Johnny making fun at him for not getting laid, but he hadn't even exchanged a single word with Mick, how would he know what he was like, just based on his choice of clothing? Keith felt himself getting grumpy and annoyed, but he really didn't want to spark this argument even further. 

“Look, I said I'm sorry, I know we've got a shitload of work to do and it wasn't okay to be gone for that long. But I told you it won't happen again, alright?”, he tried to calm the situation down because he didn't want to fight now. There was still so much work to do, they shouldn't be wasting even more time with this silly argument. 

“And there's no need to insult Mick...if you knew him, you'd see that he's a great lad. He's totally cool to hang out with...like, he's really nice and funny...and also a great musician. You should see him on stage, his voice is amazing!”, Keith told his best friend, hoping he'd understand and stop being so prejudiced. 

“You should hear yourself talking, man. Sounds like you’re dating that bloke and fancy him”, Johnny replied and it was far from anything Keith had expected him to say. 

“I...what? You're insane, man. Just piss off, okay?”, he meant, not knowing what else to return. This was getting completely silly now. Just because Johnny was pissed at him, he didn't have to throw out stuff like that. It was ridiculous, Mick was his mate, of course Keith didn't fancy him. And they'd just had lunch together, it wasn't a date. Why would Johnny even think something like that? 

“Yeah, whatever, I don't give a damn...we got other stuff to do, right?”, his friend finally gave in and they both sighed. This had been such a waste of time. 

“Yeah we do...does that mean we are good again?”, Keith asked him and Johnny only nodded after a moment. They totally needed to pull themselves together and get some work done. 

“Don't you have to pick up Davie soon?”, he reminded him then, and alarmed, Keith took a look at his watch. 

He had to be there in twenty minutes, so there was still time. But nevertheless, this idiotic argument with Johnny hadn't only cost them time but also made him almost forget about picking up his son from the day nanny. Angry at himself, Keith pressed his jaws together tightly, wishing there was something he could kick, or punch, or throw away. Stupid, this whole thing was entirely stupid. The worst about it was that once Johnny had accused him of fancying Mick, obviously now he couldn't get his words out of his mind again. He didn't understand why Johnny would think that. It was absurd. Mick might be liking blokes as well as girls, but Keith didn't, at least he never had. What, he started musing though, was if Mick fancied him? No, it was preposterous. Just because he'd been with that David dude, didn't mean he liked Keith that way too. Sighing, he shook his head, banning all of these thoughts. He needed to go and get Davie, this was clearly more important than wrecking his mind about something Johnny had probably only said to get back at him. 

“Yeah, I should better get going. I'm so sorry to leave you here with the work again, but at least Lucy should stop by soon”, Keith returned, looking at Johnny apologetically. 

“Go get your kid. At least that's a better excuse not to work than hanging around with that snob”, Johnny commented, jokingly now, though, but Keith still flipped him off, before just turning around, leaving the shop once more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> thank you all so so much for reading this story, special thanks to approx. every 8th one of you who was sweet enough and left a kudo, hahah ;)  
> This chapter got a little out of hand tbh, I didn't expect it to be that long, but it was so much fun writing that scene with Mick and Sam in the beginning that I got carried away lol...I really hope you like it, enjoy reading!

The gig at the pub was just a small event. Not too many people fit in there, but it was still cramped because many had showed up. The atmosphere was amazing and the audience totally loved what they were playing. It was beautiful seeing all the happy faces of people swaying and dancing to their music and made Mick really enjoy that little set they were performing. Only the stage was way too tiny for his taste, there barely was enough space for all of them. Obviously, Mick didn't enjoy this fact at all, so he just hopped down, trying to get a little more freedom to move around and eventually, he ended up dancing right in the middle of the crowd. It was amazingly fun, because Sam was there among the spectators and at one point he just pressed his mic into the hand of some dazzled looking guy in order to dance some rock'n'roll with her. 

After that, he grabbed the mic again and then sat down at the edge of the stage to sing a blues number, just to jump up again and end the show with their latest self-written song, something funky with a disco beat that he played along to on his electric guitar. When they finished their set, he thanked everyone for coming, before they could finally leave that tiny stage. Then he went over to the bar to grab a drink with the other boys, because they sure as hell needed one, it had gotten quite sticky and sweaty. 

Eventually, he found himself being dragged outside for a smoke by Sam, who joked that she couldn't stay in that pub a second longer without getting claustrophobia. 

“It was a nice little gig”, Sam meant as they were standing in front of the pub, dragging on their cigarettes. It also was refreshing to be outside in the night air after that sweaty performance.

“Only nice?”, Mick inquired, smirking at her. 

“It was really fun, thanks for the dance”, she replied with a wink. 

“We should go out clubbing together again”, he suggested because they hadn't done so in a while and it always was fun going dancing and getting a little drunk with her. 

“Oh, we definitely do!”, Sam agreed. “Amy told me about that new club somewhere in Islington, said it was great, we should go there and check it out.”

“Sure, I'm in”, he returned, grinning. 

“So...what's up with you and Keith? Didn’t you say you wanted to ask him to come here tonight?”, his friend inquired then on a more somber note. 

During the gig, Mick had almost forgotten that they'd talked about this on the phone the other day. Actually it had been Sam's idea to show up at Keith's shop and ask him to have lunch together, after Mick had just whined to her that he hadn't called him yet and that he didn't know what to do about it. 

“Yeah, I asked him to come”, he meant, dragging on his cigarette, avoiding to tell her more yet. 

“Well, he isn't here, though?”, she prompted him to go on by giving him an intense stare. 

“Uh...it's not that easy”, Mick said, somewhat evasively, walking a couple metres over to where a park bench was and sat down there. 

“What's that supposed to mean?”, Sam wanted to know, following after him. 

“He said that he’s got a kid...a two year old son”, he told her, his gaze directed at the ground. 

“Wow. And you didn't run yet?”, Sam replied, teasingly reminding him of that one time a few years back when he was seeing some girl and then couldn't handle the fact that she already had two little kids. He just didn't see her anymore after she'd told him, didn't return her calls, didn't open his door for her. Obviously, he was aware that it had been an arsehole move and he should at least have talked to her about it, but he didn't because he'd been a bloody coward. 

“Funny, Sam”, he just gave back, sounding anything but amused and took another drag, shuffling a foot over the ground. 

“Obviously he cannot just always show up at our gigs whenever I ask him to...he’s got to take care of his boy”, he told her, sighing.

“What about the mother?”

“She left him to raise the little one all by himself…”, he meant, flicking his cigarette away, just to pull out a new one. Usually, he didn't do that, lighting one after the other, but right now he could need it. 

“You really like him, don't you?”, Sam commented, observing him carefully, but he just dragged on the cigarette, not replying to her question right away. 

“I don't just want to shag him if that’s what you mean…”, he eventually gave back as if he wasn't clearly aware of what she implied. 

He was aware that he probably was in too deep already. Because he could feel himself falling for Keith ever since that night they met. He'd known since standing outside that pub, looking him in the eyes, while feeling his throat turn all dry and his heart beating heavily against his rib cage while everything else simply hadn't mattered right at this moment. Keith had completely swept him off his feet and continued to do so every time they were together. 

Mick didn't usually know bashful and coy. Usually, when he wanted someone, he just went over there and charmed them. It almost never failed to work, Sam was the only one who'd given him a really hard run for his money so far and it hadn't even mattered, because they never truly fell in love. He'd always loved her, but he wasn't in love with her. Keith, on the other hand, was something entirely else. When he was with him, Mick felt like a stupid schoolboy, always a little awkward and sometimes even at a loss for words. But at the same time, he could talk to him for hours on end, or simply enjoy his company in silence. Keith was a paradox to him and he couldn't remember when he'd last wanted to be with someone that badly. Properly, not just for a night. 

Though, he'd be lying if he said that he didn't imagine what kissing him for the first time would feel like, what his body might look like when Mick could finally undress him and caress him, what it would be like to tease him with his mouth until he made him come. But apart from all of that, what Mick really wanted, was to come home to him at the end of an exhausting day, he wanted to fall asleep with him and wake up next to him, have breakfast together, cook something for dinner, go for walks in the park with Davie happily running one step ahead of them, or just sit on the couch and watch silly TV shows, laughing about it. He wanted to have Keith there at all of their gigs, being the first one he’d go to and pull into a long hug after they left the stage, he wanted to sit down with him and write songs, and maybe even play one together on stage. But he knew that all this was just wishful thinking and love drunk daydreaming. Because as it was, Mick wasn't sure whether Keith even realised how much he enjoyed his company and how badly he wanted to be around him, getting to know more about him. 

“What’s the problem?”, Sam wanted to know and he could see her shiver a little in that thin black dress of hers, so he quietly handed her his leather jacket and she slung it around her shoulders. 

“The problem, Sam...is that I honestly don't know what to do”, he sighed, his gaze directed at the ground. 

“What do you mean?”, she kept on asking, apparently slightly confused. 

“I don't think he realises that I want to be more than just his mate...”, Mick admitted what had been bothering him for the past couple of days. Even though he might have had a moment with Keith that night in front of his flat, or the day before at the pub, he just wasn't sure about it. And he felt that Keith wasn't aware of how much Mick actually liked him. 

“Well, then make him realise, work your magic”, she said jokingly and with a wink. “Did you even try flirting with him?”

“I guess...”, he only meant and could literally feel Sam's bewildered gaze upon him, even though he didn't look at her directly. 

“Don't say anything now, Sam...I know you want to say something, but...just leave it be”, he stopped her, before she could come up with some typical witty comment about his flirting skills or something alike. That's just how she was, but he didn't want to hear it right now. He needed some serious advice. 

“Did you think of just telling him how you feel about him?”, she said instead and finally made him look up at her with an expression as if she'd lost her mind. 

“I don't want to freak him out and not talk to me any longer…”

“Mick, come on, what do you want? You're not fourteen anymore, either he returns your feelings the same way, or he doesn't. It's as simple as that. But you really need to step up your game, woo him, see how he's reacting to it...otherwise you'll never know”, she advised him. 

Before he could find anything to reply, a very well known voice disrupted them. 

“Hey, you guys. Sam, I didn't know you were back in town again!”

“What are you doing here, David?”, Mick glared at him, not even giving Sam a chance to answer. 

“I went to your gig, didn't know it was forbidden”, his ex tried to joke, but obviously Mick didn't find it funny in the slightest.

“Are you following me or something?”, he wanted to know, his voice cold. He couldn't believe that David possessed the nerve to show up here and bother him, once again. It had happened so often recently that it seemed to become a habit by now. 

“Don't be ridiculous, Mike, this is a public place, I just wanted to grab a pint with some mates and have some fun”, David made a poor attempt at an explanation and Mick didn't believe him at all that this was the only reason he was there. 

“Well, then go back to your mates and leave me the fuck alone”, he almost spat at him and Sam put a hand onto his arm soothingly, trying to calm him down. 

“I also think it's better if you go back inside and find your friends”, Sam suggested calmly, staring at David daringly. 

“I just wanted to say hi, Sam, that's all. How are you doing?”, David tried again and Mick grew increasingly annoyed at the guy. Why couldn't he just finally accept that it was over and leave him alone?

“Well, as a matter of fact, I'm doing great, Dave. Since coming back, I spent a lot of time with Mick...and actually, we decided to give it another shot and started dating again”, she told him, her face beaming, and at first, Mick wanted to ask her whether she had too much to drink. 

But then, he caught up on her plan and hoped it would work out. He watched David frown, as he gave Sam a sweet smile, secretly winking at her, hoping David would buy it. 

“Is this true?”, David asked after a moment, looking from Mick to Sam and then back again. 

“Why wouldn't it be true? Is it so hard to believe that I'd want to give a girl like Sam another chance? I mean, look at her, she's brilliant”, Mick returned, smiling at her brightly and then took her hand, linking their fingers, as if to underline his statement. 

“So, you're together now?”, David inquired, apparently still in disbelief. 

“Yeah, we are, David...I really do like Sam a lot, get it?”

“You're happy?”, he wanted to know in return and Mick only nodded as Sam inched closer and pressed a soft little kiss to his cheek before resting her head against his shoulder and Mick simply smiled contently. 

“Alright”, David agreed to his surprise, averting his eyes to the ground and for a moment, Mick thought he looked defeated. But he didn't really care about it, as long as he'd finally leave him alone. This had been going on for almost three months now, since Mick broke up with him, and it had been getting rather annoying lately. 

“See you around, then”, he added and without waiting for a reply, turned around and went back inside the pub. 

“Thanks”, Mick meant, smirking at Sam and hugged her lightly. “That was quite smart, I guess.” 

“No worries...this whole thing with David was getting pathetic, really”, she replied and they both ended up chuckling a little, relieved that apparently this silly little plan had worked in getting rid of him. 

“So...since I’m your girlfriend tonight, will you come home with me?”, Sam then said, in a joking tone, but Mick knew that she meant it, if only he was up for it. 

“I'll walk you home, okay?”, he gave back with a light smile, then got up and held out a hand for her. 

“Does that mean you'll stay the night?”, she wanted to know, winking at him and he grinned a little as they went on their way to the next tube station. 

It was so typically Sam. She was bold and beautiful and he loved her. If he never had met Keith that night, he'd probably be all over her, once again, very well knowing that it wouldn't last longer than a weekend spent in bliss and ecstasy before they'd be holding metaphorical knives to each other's throats again over some banal stuff. 

“Sam...you know I love you...it's just…”, he started, but before he could even find any proper words to explain what he wanted to say, she'd already cut him off. 

“I know...I was joking, relax, Mickey”, Sam replied, smirking at him as she linked their arms. “God, you’re really having it bad for him, don't you…”, she added then, it was not a question this time and it was painfully obvious that she was referring to Keith. 

 

The next morning, Mick was ripped out of his sleep by the ringing of his telephone. Drowsy, he rolled out of his bed and staggered out onto the floor where it hang on the wall and rang continuously. 

“This is Mick”, he answered it eventually, stifling a yawn. 

“Hey, this is Keith”, Keith's voice greeted him back and he couldn't help himself, but smile at it, even though he still was halfway asleep. He hadn't expected Keith to get in touch with him again that soon. It definitely was a nice thing to wake up and the first person he got to talk to was him. Even if just on the phone. 

“Keith, hey”, he said, his voice still raspy from sleep and he run a hand over his face, rubbing his bleary eyes. 

“Did I wake you up?”, Keith wanted to know. 

“That obvious, huh?”, he asked back, leaning against the wall on the floor, not able to restrain himself from grinning because he was so delighted about Keith actually calling him. He knew he probably was acting like a fourteen year old boy, having his first real crush, but he just couldn't stop himself. Keith had him under his spell and he was completely at his mercy. 

“Oh, I'm sorry, I can call back later...”, the other man started, but Mick disrupted him. 

“It's all fine, Keith. I needed to get up eventually anyway”, he meant with a chuckle. “So...to what do I owe the honour of your call?”, he added jokingly. 

“Uhm...well...do you maybe have time to hang out later this afternoon?”, Keith asked. 

“Sure, yeah, that sounds great”, Mick returned, his smile growing wider. “Does that mean you found someone to look after Davie for a while?”, he inquired then, remembering that Keith told him he wanted to ask his friend. 

“Yeah, Ronnie will stop by later, he doesn't mind”, Keith meant at the other end of the line. 

“That's really nice of him. Do you want to come over to my place then?”, Mick asked him, excited at the prospect of being able to see Keith again really soon. 

“I mean, if you don't mind?” 

“No, of course not. I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise”, he grinned and could hear Keith chuckle lightly on the phone. 

“Okay, great. Uh...so...we're jamming?”, he wanted to know. 

“Well, I was assuming so, but if you rather want to, you know, get high and make out, I'm down for that too”, he joked and could almost see Keith's stunned and confused look. 

“What…?”, he got back, the pitch of Keith's voice a tad higher than usual and Mick only chuckled at it. 

“I was kidding, mate...just bring your guitar”, he said, even though he wouldn't mind the alternative either. If only they could do both...But Mick wasn't sure, however, whether he actually would dare to do so and if upping his game like that was too much all at once. 

“Do you have an amp?”, Keith asked him next, his voice back to normal, disrupting his thoughts. 

“I even have two”, Mick clarified. 

“Awesome, I'll bring one of my electric guitars then!”, Keith sounded as excited as Mick felt and he just couldn't get the stupid grin off his face again. 

“Sure! When do you want to come over?”, Mick asked. 

“Is 4pm alright?”, the other suggested and Mick nodded, before he realised that Keith couldn't see him. 

“Sounds perfect”, he agreed then. 

“Okay, fine, I'm looking forward to it”, Keith meant and made Mick smile. 

“Yeah, me too, Keith” he returned softly. 

“Alright, see you then, Mick.

“See you later.”

 

OoOoOoOo

 

When Keith arrived at Mick's flat that afternoon, his guitar bag slung over one shoulder, he was a little late because Ronnie had taken a while longer to get to his place than agreed. But then again, Ronnie could never be expected to be punctual, being late was one of his trademark signs. 

Keith barely had pressed the doorbell, as Mick already opened up for him. 

“Hey, come on in”, he greeted him with one of these sweet smiles and stepped out of the way to let Keith in. 

“Hey there”, Keith replied, smiling back at him and Mick pulled him into one of his obligatory hugs. Keith realised that, whenever they saw each other, Mick always embraced him. But he didn't mind, on the contrary, it was quite nice. 

“You can put your jacket here”, Mick meant as he let go of him and pointed to a coat rack on the wall next to them where some of his own jackets were hanging. 

“How are you doing?”, Mick inquired then, smiling at him. 

“I'm alright, how about you?”, he said, returning Mick's smile. 

“Yeah, I'm fine too. Do you want a beer?”, he asked, as Keith had taken his leather jacket off and followed Mick into the living room, that he apparently also used for dining when having friends over, just like Keith did himself. 

“Uh, sure”, Keith gave back, and as Mick disappeared into the kitchen, he let his gaze wander around the room. 

It was quite large for a flat situated in central London, but maybe it also just appeared that way because all of the walls were painted in white.There was a dark brown Chesterfield couch standing at one wall with a coffee table in front of it and two of Mick's guitars, an acoustic and an electric one, leaning next to it on stands. At the opposite side of the room, near the door, there was a wooden table with four chairs. There also was a shelf with a telly, holding some framed pictures as well as a whole collection of books and records, and next to it an Ariston record player. Keith headed over there to have a better look at it. It was a nice golden brown and seemed to be new and quite expensive. For a moment, he wondered how he could afford it and remembered Johnny's mocking words about Mick being a snob. The rest of his interior decoration didn't strike him as especially high class, though, so Johnny probably was wrong with his assumption. 

“Like it?”, Mick appeared at his side, holding two bottles of beer, and almost startled him a little. 

“It's beautiful”, he meant, resisting the urge to put out a hand and touch it. 

“It’s the latest model”, Mick explained, holding one of the beers out for him to grab. 

“Must have been ridiculously expensive”, he commented. 

“Uh, yeah, it wasn't that cheap. But I really wanted it, the sound is brilliant...so I had to save up for it”, Mick returned with a lopsided grin. 

“Do you want to listen to some record, or do you want to get right into playing? Oh, and you can put your guitar down and take a seat, obviously”, he added, chuckling, nodding towards the leather couch. 

Keith put his beer down on the coffee table and leaned the guitar bag against the side of the couch, as he sat down on it. It was amazingly soft and bouncy. 

“I don't mind listening to some music, now that you established how great your player is”, he meant teasingly and Mick just grinned at him. 

“Any requests?”

“Anything by Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf maybe?”, he suggested. 

“I think I can come up with something for that”, Mick said, flipping through his records until he found the one he was looking for and then put it on. It was Folk Singer by Muddy Waters and Mick hadn't exaggerated when saying the sound was brilliant, because it absolutely was. 

Mick flopped down on the couch next to Keith, raising his beer bottle in his direction and Keith grabbed his to return the gesture. 

“Cheers!”, they both said, smiling at each other and clinking their bottles, before taking some gulps each. 

“So...how was your gig last night?”, Keith wanted to know, putting his bottle back down. 

“Really cramped, heated, pretty sweaty, but amazingly fun”, Mick summed up the experience and then told Keith about the much too small stage, how he had jumped down in order to have more space to move and how eventually it ended up in everybody dancing some rock'n'roll. 

“Seems like it was really a great gig”, Keith commented as Mick was done telling. 

“Yeah it was fun, pity that you couldn't be there”, he gave back. 

“Why, did you want to see me dancing?”, Keith said, kidding. 

“Maybe I wanted to ask you if I could have the next dance”, Mick meant, in a completely serious tone, but winked at him and Keith snorted. He loved that silly side of Mick, it was incredibly charming.

“Well, maybe next time”, he joked, winking back at him. 

“I'll be taking you at your word”, Mick said with a grin and Keith only chuckled in reply. 

“The only thing that wasn't so great about last night was David showing up there, too...”, he added then, sighing and took a sip from his beer. 

“Did he bother you again?”, Keith wanted to know, the grin vanishing off his face. 

“Ah, he tried...but luckily Sam got rid of him for me by making him believe she's my girlfriend”, the other told him and Keith frowned. He almost had forgotten about Sam. 

“So, you and Sam…”, he started, not quite sure what he even wanted to say. There was absolutely no reason why he felt so annoyed simply by the mention of that woman. He didn't even really know her, actually one of the only things he knew about her was that she was amazingly beautiful. 

“Yeah?”, Mick asked, prompting him to go on, a little grin on his lips.

“You aren't together”, he observed but it still sounded like a question. 

“No...we only pretended to be for David. But there's nothing going on between Sam and I. She's only a friend”, Mick explained, looking at Keith honestly. 

“I believe she found another word for your relationship”, Keith meant, sounding a little teasing and Mick just grinned now, shaking his head. 

“Sam and I...it used to be complicated...but I'm not in love with her. And I didn't sleep with her in almost a year”, he told and Keith wasn't quite sure why he even felt the need to clarify all of that. It wasn't like he had a right to know any of it, but still Mick offered the information to him voluntarily.

“Oh, I assumed...cause you took her home with you the other night...”, he replied, a little awkward because it was not his place to just assume these things. He didn't even know why he spoke these thoughts out aloud, it was probably inappropriate. Why did he care so much about what was going on between Mick and Sam? It was none of his business. Somewhat ashamed, he quickly took some gulps of his beer in order to distract himself. 

“We only talked”, Mick clarified and grinned at him. “Did that bother you?”, he added then and Keith didn't know what he was talking about. 

“What?”

“Thinking I'm with Sam?”, Mick meant and Keith didn't know what to reply to that. Did it bother him? Why would it? Sam was a stunning woman, but it wasn't like he fancied her. So, why would it bother him if she and Mick actually were together? 

“No, I just…”, he began, stopping himself again, not sure what to say. 

He felt pretty awkward by now, knowing he shouldn’t have breached that topic in the first place. The reason he came here was to just hang out with Mick and have some fun, and not to question him about whom he was or wasn't sleeping with. It was way out of line and he probably should be apologising. But before he could even formulate any proper words, Mick startled him with another question. 

“Sam had that feeling...that you either wanted to punch me and run off with her, or the other way round. Was she right about it?”

“Which way?”, he asked, because he didn't have a clue and was totally baffled by it. Thinking back of that encounter, he could only still tell that it had made him feel uncomfortable, quite jealous even. But why, if he didn't care about Sam? Would he want to punch Mick if he was with her? Definitely not. But did that mean, in conclusion, that he wasn't actually jealous of him but of her instead? 

“I don’t know, tell me…”, Mick returned in a quiet voice, his eyes fixed on Keith's, holding his gaze for a few moments, until Keith felt even more awkward. 

Why did Mick always have to look at him that way? It was unsettling and made him all jittery. He averted his eyes down to his own hands, sighing, remembering his little argument with Johnny and the things that he said. Could it be that the reason for him reacting that way was that he truly was jealous of Sam? And that Johnny was in fact right with his assumption when claiming that he fancied Mick? It seemed ridiculous. Or was it? 

“I think Sam should meet my friend Johnny...he also had some...weird ideas”, he mentioned instead of answering Mick's question. He didn't have a clue why he said that. Now Mick would want to know and he'd have to tell him. Keith blamed him and his blue eyes for making him all confused and inconsiderate like that. 

“Did he?”

“He uh...he got mad at me for taking such a long break when we went to have lunch together the other day”, Keith offered, hoping Johnny being angry with him would be a logical explanation as for why he said these things. 

“I'm sorry about that”, Mick meant, but Keith only shook his head. 

“No, it's alright. He calmed down again…”

“So what did he say?”, Mick wanted to know then, sounding curious.

“Uhm...he kinda...it sounds stupid, really. He probably just wanted to mock me and get back at me for making him do all the work by himself. But he claimed...uh...that you and I were dating…”, he all but sputtered, his cheeks growing hot in embarrassment, as he was nervously turning the beer bottle in his hands. 

“Well...would it be so bad if we were?”, Mick gave back, again with that inscrutable gaze, looking at him almost expectantly. 

Keith swallowed hard. This wasn't a question he had been expecting at all and it completely overwhelmed him, his thoughts came tumbling, while his mouth turned all dry and he couldn't come up with a single thing to say. Had Johnny been right all along, even if probably he had just wanted to mock him? And did Mick actually fancy him too? Or why would he be asking him that? He couldn't, didn't want to think about all of this right now. It was too much and made him feel cornered, wanting to escape and flee the scene. But it would come across as pretty odd, if he just up and left now, so instead, he decided to focus on the one thing that always helped to calm him down and clear his mind. 

“Do you wanna play some guitar now?”, he asked Mick, sounding almost coy as he watched him frown slightly. Apparently he hadn't expected that question as a reply, either. But he seemed to brace himself again quickly, a light smile forming on his lips.

“Sure, yeah. I mean that's why you came here for”, he said, chuckling, but it sounded a tad awkward. In the next moment, he just got up to walk over and stopped the record playing, before he went to where his guitars and the amps were placed. He picked up the electric one and then kneeled down to plug it in. Turning the knobs, he looked up at Keith, grinning.

“What are you waiting for, grab your guitar”, he encouraged him and Keith returned his grin, not waiting to be told twice, and he grabbed his guitar bag, retrieving his Telecaster. As Keith plugged it into the other amp, Mick was already strumming some tunes and he recognised that funky song his band had played the other week. 

“I love that one! Can you teach it to me?”, Keith asked, all the awkwardness from before disappeared now. All he wanted to do was play. 

“Of course”, Mick agreed with a smile and then played the whole song for Keith, who could simply catch up on the tune. 

Soon they played the song together, changing some of the chords every now and again, making it sound more varied, giving it their own unique touch. It was an upbeat, fun sound and playing together with Mick came easily, it was almost as natural as with Ronnie whom he'd played with for years already. Eventually, they just made up new melodies and picked up on each other's rhythm and ideas as though they were sharing the same mind. It was incredible and Keith could barely believe that this was the first time he was jamming with Mick. He was a pretty good player and some of the tunes he came up with were outright brilliant. It was obvious that they both enjoyed this immensely, Keith caught Mick looking over at him with a wide smile on his face more than just once and he returned it each time just as happily. He wasn't sure how long they'd been playing like that, but somewhere along the line Mick let his sound fade out and then grabbed for his bottle of beer, taking a sip. 

“This is so amazing”, he simply stated, without a need to specify what he meant. Clearly, the way they played together was extraordinary and they both could feel it. Keith only smiled brightly in reply. 

“Can you show me some of your stuff? That you played with your band, I mean?”, Mick wanted to know then and Keith was more than eager to do so. 

He taught him a slow, lovely song that he had come up together with Ronnie quite in the beginning. It was one of their first original pieces and therefore held a very special place in his heart. 

“It's beautiful. What's it called?”, Mick asked him after a while, just picking around at his strings. 

“Just a Gift“, he said. 

“I really like it”, Mick smiled at him softly and for a moment they just locked eyes, neither of them saying a word. Something in Keith's chest seemed like swelling and bursting up to the point where he couldn't stand looking at Mick anymore because he felt his breath catching and his heart beating heavily against his ribs.

“Do you...maybe want to hear what I've come up with recently?”, Keith suggested for lack of anything better to say and because he needed an excuse to finally break eye contact. It made him feel like drowning. 

“Sure, show me”, Mick gave back and Keith started playing the quite easy but amazingly catchy tune.

“Wow...this is brilliant. It's wonderfully simple but ingenious”, Mick commented, trying to pick up on it and managing to play it within a ridiculously short while. It were only three chords. 

“It's just that riff so far...I didn't really have time to think of anything further. It's far from being done”, he played it down, feeling his cheeks turning red. He knew the sound probably was brilliant, but the song was totally far from finished. He didn't even have the slightest idea for some lyrics. 

“It's one of the coolest things I've heard in a long while, I mean it. How did you come up with it?”

“Actually...in my sleep”, Keith explained and Mick chuckled in disbelief, apparently thinking he was joking. 

“No, it's true...I just...I just had this on my mind and thought I needed to play it, just note it down, or record it...Johnny and I had smoked quite some pot before, I still was high at the time...”, he explained with a laugh. 

“Well...do you maybe want to smoke something and get some more ideas for that song?”, Mick offered in a joking voice. “I’ve got some weed here, let me get it”, he added with a grin and before Keith could return anything, he'd put down his guitar and disappeared from the room to retrieve his stash. 

“Here”, Mick returned, wiggling a joint and a lighter between his fingers. 

“You didn't have to”, Keith meant, laughing. 

“Well, but I wanted to”, the other replied, plopping down on the couch where Keith was sitting, guitar placed on his lap. Mick lighted the joint and took a drag, grinning at Keith, before offering it to him. “Here, have a hit.”

“I probably shouldn't get high right now”, he figured, thinking of the fact that soon he needed to go back home where Ronnie was waiting for him with Davie. 

“It's just some dope, come one, take a drag”, Mick encouraged him. 

“I gotta go back home to Davie”, he opposed, but Mick kept staring at him out of these big blue eyes.

“Don't let me smoke all alone, it's rude”, he teased and Keith sighed in faked annoyance. 

“Fine...one hit”, he agreed and winked at him. 

“Wait...I've got an idea”, Mick said, a grin spreading on his face. “Let's make that one count.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me give you a shotgun?”, Mick proposed, it rather sounded like a question, though. 

“Uh...yeah, okay”, Keith returned, because why not. He'd done so before with Ronnie and actually he quite liked it. 

Mick smiled lightly, taking Keith's guitar, leaning it against the couch in order to slide right next to him. He was so close now that Keith could scent the smell of his aftershave mixed with the typically sweet odor of the pot he'd just taken a drag of. Mick smiled at him, placing the joint between his teeth with the lit end, and then leaned in even closer, keeping his eyes fixed on Keith's. He hadn't even touched the other end of the joint with his mouth yet, but already felt lightheaded. Having Mick so close to him that he could sense his breath on his own skin, made his heart race and his mouth turn dry. Keith opened his mouth around the joint, his lips mere centimetres away from the other man's now. Mick even inched a little closer, and then, without further warning, lifted a hand, brushing it against Keith's cheek and then let it rest there, before he finally blew into the spliff and Keith inhaled the smoke deeply at the other end, his throat burning from it. He felt dizzy, his head clouded, not so much from the dope, he'd taken way more before, much harder stuff even. But Mick's warm hand pressed against his cheek made him want to lean into the touch further and forget everything around them. They were so incredibly close now, if only he shifted a tiny bit closer, their lips would touch in something like a kiss. In his dazzled mind, he wondered what it would feel like to kiss Mick, who didn't blowback the smoke any longer, but who also didn't show any intention to pull away. They just kept gazing at each other, Mick's eyes slowly shifting down to Keith's lips as he carefully took the spliff out of his mouth with one hand, the thumb of his other gently running over Keith's cheek, making him shiver. He swallowed heavily, wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue, not being able to think clearly any longer. Mick was completely mesmerizing him and the only thing Keith could think about was how his full lips would feel against his own. But as soon as this thought crossed his mind and sunk into his conscience, he pulled away from Mick, panic and embarrassment rising up inside him. 

“I...I probably should be going now”, he all but stammered, taking a look at his watch in order to avoid seeing the baffled and defeated expression on Mick's face. 

It was shortly after 8:30pm and he'd already been here for way longer than anticipated. He hadn't even realised how fast time had been flying while talking to Mick and playing guitar together. Obviously, though, that wasn’t the only reason he wanted to leave now. 

He needed to get away from Mick in order to think clearly again. After all he'd almost just kissed him. Or wanted to kiss him. And he totally had no clue what to make about any of it. All he knew was that he was close to freaking out about all the thoughts whirling around in his head, while his heart was racing a hundred miles per hour. He felt like he might suffocate if he didn't get away from Mick as soon as he could. 

“Oh, I...I thought that maybe you wanted to stay a while longer and have some dinner together”, Mick replied, dejected and almost sad. 

“I need to check on Davie”, he only offered in return, not directly looking at Mick. 

“Yeah...sure. I understand...”, Mick's voice sounded odd, hurt. 

“Maybe next time”, Keith offered, but it was just a phrase. Right now he just needed to get out of this flat and away from Mick, because he couldn't stand to be near him. Not after what he'd made him feel…

So he gathered his guitar and stuffed it back in its bag. He’d already halfway crossed the room on his way to the floor to retrieve his jacket, as Mick finally got up from the couch to follow him. 

“Keith…”, he said, almost pleading, while he was getting into his leather jacket. 

“I’m sorry about...I didn't mean to…I just...”, he sputtered, clearly at a loss for words, his voice breaking in the end. 

“I gotta go, Mick”, is all he returned, giving him a last, quick look, before he opened the door. It made his heart ache to see that Mick was standing there, appearing all lost in his own flat, tears shining in his beautiful blue eyes. He almost felt remorse at leaving like this, but his nervosity and panic got the better of him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys :)  
> thank you so much for all the kudos I recently got, it's incredible, I really really am so happy that a lot of you apparently like what I'm doing :) sometimes I just also would love to hear your thoughts, but I guess you can't always get what you want xD   
> anyway, hope you enjoy that chapter!

The beat of the music was thudding in his ears, resonating deep inside his core as he was dancing to the disco rhythm. It was really sticky inside the club and the dance floor was quite crowded with frolic, intoxicated people, nevertheless Mick kept moving to the music, his body pressed closely against Sam's. He’d already downed the one or other drink since they got there, and his mind was spinning lightly, but in an enjoyable way. Not the dizzy way that would lead to a headache very soon, but the kind that made him forget about everything else while he was focussing completely on the moment. The coloured, flickering lights, the beat of the music, the movement of his body, grinding against Sam's in her short green dress, his hands wandering over thin fabrics, resting on her back, sliding down her sides to her hips, her bottom. She was stunning as ever and frankly, Mick figured, that with some more liquor in his system, he wouldn't be able to let her go home alone this night. Sam smiled at him brightly as he held her by her waist, swifting and swaying to the beat and he returned her smile gladly, before just leaning in even closer and capturing her lips with his own. At first, she seemed surprised about it, but after a short moment, she eagerly kissed him back, putting a hand to the back of his neck, pulling him closer. He hadn't kissed her like this in a while, demanding and hungry, almost forgetting their surroundings for a moment. As they had to break apart to catch a breath, Sam smirked at him before shouting over the music: 

“I need some fresh air! Wanna get outta here?”

Mick only nodded and then she grabbed his hand, pulling him off the dance floor, through all the people who were nightclubbing until they finally reached the back door of the club, leading to a side street. The fresh night air hitting his heated, sweaty face was a most welcome change. Sam had already pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her purse and lighted one, offering him another. They kept smoking in silence for a while, as the dull boom of the music crept outside every time somebody opened the door to get out for a smoke or back inside again. 

“What happened?”, Sam asked eventually, looking at him carefully from the side. 

“What do you mean?”, he wanted to know, dragging on his cigarette, back leaned against the wall behind them. 

“You're somewhat high and I don't know when you last downed that much liquor in such a short amount of time. We’ve barely been here for over an hour”, she pointed out, it didn't sound accusing, though, rather concerned. 

“It's nothing”, he gave back. It was only some coke he'd snorted right before before meeting her outside the club, plus some vodka, and a couple of shots he'd bought inside. 

“Mick...you haven't been able to keep your hands off me all night and you just kissed me like you...look, I don't mind this at all, but you're not alright, obviously”, Sam replied, almost incredulously. 

“I don't want to talk now, Sam”, he simply meant, pushing himself off the wall to turn around to her. “Maybe I just really wanted to kiss you”, he added then, voice low, grinning at her before leaning in closer. “You look so beautiful tonight”, Mick whispered, starting to kiss her neck up to her jawline until he reached her lips, while Sam wrapped her arms around his back. He kissed her almost desperately, feeling an aching in his chest, until his throat was burning and he didn’t know whether it was from lack of oxygen or due to the fact that he was crying. As Sam realised, tasting his salty tears, she turned her head away from him, laying her hands on both sides of his neck, trying to hold him in place. 

“What happened, Mick?”, she repeated, trying to catch his eyes, but he wouldn't directly look at her. He brought up a hand to his face to rub his tears away. 

“Everything was going...was going fine...perfect...and then he...he just left”, Mick replied, voice tear-stained and almost incomprehensible as he could barely keep himself from starting to sob. 

“Hey...come here”, Sam simply said, pulling him into an embrace and he couldn't help himself but cry against her neck as she soothingly kept rubbing his back. It took him some moments to finally calm down enough in order to breathe again properly. 

“I...I'm sorry”, he got out, voice still choked, as he shifted away from Sam, brushing his tears away.

“Don't be...do you want to talk about it?”, she asked him while handing him a tissue. 

“Thanks”, he mumbled, taking the tissue to dry his eyes and blow his nose. 

He didn't know whether he wanted to talk. On the other hand, everything else hadn’t helped. The past week, since that day Keith had been over at his place, he'd been trying to distract himself with playing and writing music. They'd had two more gigs since then and apart from that, when not at work, he'd hung out with the boys a lot, just jamming. Charlie had figured that he wasn't doing alright, but had left him be after Mick bawled at him to piss off. He'd done some coke or smoked some pot, more than just on one day, staying up until the middle of the night, writing on a new song since he couldn't really sleep anyway. Whenever he didn't have any distraction and was left alone with his thoughts, he couldn't stop himself from replaying and analysing what had happened with Keith that Saturday, almost a week ago, over and over again. 

He couldn't understand how everything went south so fast after it all had been absolutely brilliant before. Playing guitar with Keith had been outright incredible and not a day had passed since where he didn't have to think back of it. Their chemistry had been palpable, never before had it been so easy to fall into rhythm with someone, it was like their minds had been syncked. But offering him a shotgun had been just a tad too much of a good thing, probably. It had cost him so much composure to not just lean in a little bit further and brush his lips against Keith's. It had been so very tempting. Mick had almost been certain that Keith had felt it too, there was something extraordinary going on between them. That's why it had been such a blow when Keith had just backed off and left as soon as he could. Until that moment, everything had been perfect. 

And then, it felt like he'd punched Mick in the guts repeatedly by just leaving like that. He couldn't explain it other than he'd been completely wrong about him and that Keith had been freaked out by him because he was straight and didn’t feel the same way. Now he probably wouldn't want to see Mick anymore. At least he hadn't heard of him since and also didn’t dare to just stop by at his shop again. He simply was too afraid of another rejection. And he couldn't remember when he'd last felt that miserable about someone not wanting him. Probably not ever. 

He'd been falling for Keith ever since they first met, and even though he hadn't been sure about him feeling the same way, after having that chat with Sam, he just had to take a chance and risk it. Because he truly cared about him and really wanted to be with him. But maybe it was for the best that he hadn't actually kissed him. Mick didn't even want to imagine what would have happened then. Probably Keith would have pushed him away, or punched him in the face, or worse, called him some demeaning slurs. 

Still, it hurt nevertheless, knowing that probably he'd ruined it all, their budding friendship. He'd told himself before, that even if he couldn't be with Keith because he didn't want him like that, at least they could still be friends. But now, not even that seemed to be an option anymore. And it made him feel sick and defeated because he just couldn’t stop thinking about him and missing him. Not even getting high and drunk and making out with Sam helped. It might only have made it worse, because at some point, while kissing her, all he could think about was what it would be like to kiss Keith and that he probably would never know. Why would talking help, then? Maybe at least getting it out and off his chest would make him feel a tiny bit better, though. So, eventually he agreed to Sam’s question. 

“Let's get our jackets and go for a walk, shall we?”, she proposed then and Mick only nodded. 

She took his hand, gently this time, pressing it reassuringly, as they went back inside the club to retrieve their jackets from the cloak room. Then, Sam bought him a bottle of water.

“Here, have this”, she meant, and he managed a weak smile as he took the bottle and gulped down some sips. It felt great against his raw throat and helped him to focus a little more clearly. 

They were strolling around Islington for a good ten, fifteen minutes, silently, just passing by all its little pubs and restaurants until they reached a small park with a children's playground. There were some swings and in wordless agreement, they sat down on them, lightly swinging back and forth. 

“I haven't heard of Keith in almost a week now…”, he started, because he didn't know where else to begin. “He came over to my place last Saturday and...I don't get it, Sam…”, here he stopped, his voice almost breaking again. 

“Why didn't you call me to talk about this?”, she quietly asked him. “You know I’m here for you.”

“I didn't want to talk...I just wanted to play music…”, he gave back, sounding somewhat stubborn and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jeans pocket, lighting one. 

“What happened when he was with you?”

“It was...I can't even describe it. You should have seen us play...playing guitar with Keith….it was incredible, I've never…we had such an amazing time, and I know he enjoyed it too...he seemed really happy. It was totally fun...”, Mick told her, as he kept swinging lightly, smiling sadly at the memory as he felt new tears welling up in his eyes. But he only blinked them away and took a deep drag from his cigarette. 

“What did you do to make him leave then?”, Sam inquired.

“I gave him a shotgun…”, he mumbled, looking down to his feet. 

“And you kissed him?”, Sam guessed, but he shook his head. 

“No...I didn't dare to…”, he sighed. “He just...he just pulled away all of a sudden. I didn't...I just touched his cheek, that's all. And then he stammered something about having to go back home to check on his boy…and left”, he described to her what happened.

“Do you think he was freaked out by your advance?”, she mused, stopping to swing in order to turn around and face him. 

“I guess…”, he just shrugged. What else would explain Keith's behaviour? “I couldn't even say anything...I wanted to explain, but I didn't know what to say...and then he was just gone…”

“Do you think there's a chance he actually feels the same way but just was afraid?”, her question didn't come as a surprise. In one of the best possible scenarios he'd made up as an explanation in his head, this is exactly what happened. 

“I don't know…”, he returned, though. Because he had no idea and it all was just wishful thinking. Mick had no clue what went on in Keith's mind at that moment and why he'd all but fled from him. Maybe he was afraid. Maybe he was confused, or shocked, or appalled. 

“Have you tried contacting him?”

“I don't have his number...gave him mine, but I didn't think of asking him for his…”, he sighed and once again wanted to bash his head against something concrete for being so inconsiderate. 

“You know where he's working, though”, Sam encouraged him and in the damp light of the street lamps he could see her grin at him.

“That's not an option…”, he disagreed, dragging on his cigarette. 

“Why not? It's probably the only chance you've got”, his friend argued, but he thought differently. 

“Because I don't want him to tell me to fuck off…”, Mick replied, running a hand over his face. “He didn't even try to call me...and he knows very well where I'm working...so I guess things are quite clear, aren't they…”, he trailed off, slowly starting to feel the effects of the alcohol, even though being outside and drinking water helped him to stay focused. He was only slightly sozzled, much more exhausted, though, because the effects of the coke had started to wear off long ago. 

“So...what's your plan then? You're just getting over him?”, she wanted to know, almost sounding challenging. 

“Well, I gotta…”, he muttered, scratching his foot over the grass underneath, sounding almost sulky. What else could he do? 

“But what if he's just confused? Maybe he needs some time. Maybe he got a little anxious because he felt something for you, too? Would that be so unthinkable?”, Sam mused and Mick didn't really know what to make of it. Obviously, he'd hope and wish for that. It would be the best possible scenario. But it was just hypothetical. 

“Maybe. I don't know…”, he only gave back, starting to feel a little dizzy and tired by now. 

“Did you fall in love with him?”, his friend wanted to know, a question he didn't expect. It ripped him out of his dazed state a little and he stopped swinging. 

“Yeah…I think so”, Mick confessed after some moments, sounding almost coy now. Admitting it to Sam was something else than just admitting it to himself. It made it more real and it also made it more hurtful that apparently Keith didn't return his feelings like that. 

“And is there at least a chance that he might feel the same way?”, Sam tried. Mick didn't know whether she actually believed it and if he should keep hoping for it as well, or if she only wanted to calm him down and not rob him of his hopes completely. 

“Maybe? I don't know...yeah, maybe…actually I remembered something…”, Mick realised after he kept musing about it for a while. 

“What?”

“We talked about you…”, he started.

“Only good things, I hope?”, Sam threw in and it made him chuckle lightly. 

“Obviously”, he said with a little smirk. “...I had the impression he was having trouble wrapping his head around our relationship. I mean yours and mine...it seemed to bother him...he might have been jealous of you...at least it seemed like it”, he explained as he started swinging again. 

“But...isn't that a good sign?”

“Probably?”, he returned and it sounded like a question. 

“I think it is, it shows that he cares. You should give him a couple more days. Maybe stop by at his work, just see how he’ll react to you”, Sam suggested to him. 

“You think?”, Mick gave back because he wasn't quite sure of it. 

“After everything you just told me about him...I think he knows how you're feeling. I'm sure he is aware. He probably just needs to figure things out for himself”, she mused and it actually could make sense, Mick realised. He didn't quite see it that way before, or didn't dare to think about that possibility. It held way too much potential to hurt him even more. 

“Hopefully”, he just said, it didn’t sound quite convinced, though. But if there might be a chance, shouldn't he at least try again? The only thing that could happen was that Keith turned him down. Which would be hurtful and probably might take him a while to get over, but he'd be okay, eventually. On the other hand, if he simply gave up now, he'd lose every chance of having any kind of relationship with Keith at all. Even if it was just his friendship. It might be better than not seeing him ever again. 

“Give him some time”, Sam meant, encouragingly, and he nodded lightly. 

“I guess you might be right...”

“I always am”, she smirked, it made him grin. 

“Thanks, Sam”, Mick gave back, looking over to her, a little smile forming on his lips. 

“It's alright, always”, Sam smiled. “Will you be okay now?”, she added and he only nodded once more. 

“Do you want to come with me and sleep on my couch?”, she offered then. 

“I'll be fine, but thanks”, he declined and pushed himself off the swing. 

 

OoOoOoOo

 

“What’s going on with you, mate?”, Ronnie wanted to know. “You know you can talk to me”, he encouraged him. 

It was Monday evening, Keith had just bathed and tucked in Davie, and now he was sitting in his living room with his best friend, having a beer. Or probably much rather an intervention, seeing that Ronnie had showed up at his door, twenty minutes earlier, claiming they needed to have a chat. 

“I don't know what about”, Keith returned, sipping on his beer, although he knew very well what this was about. His two best friends were worried about him. And since he wouldn't talk about it to Johnny, who'd tried more than just once over the past week to coax something out of him, now he'd send Ronnie to try. 

“Johnny said you were behaving totally weird all week”, Ronnie confirmed his assumptions right then. 

Well, he wasn't wrong with that. It had been a rough couple of days. Either, Keith had thrown himself into work, almost forgetting about picking up Davie from the day nanny because he was so engulfed in what he was doing, or he was completely elsewhere with his thoughts, not getting things done and having Johnny get annoyed with him. He’d asked him a couple of times whether he was alright and when Keith said he was, didn't believe him. But he hadn't got him around to actually opening up to him. Keith didn't know what to tell him. And even if he did, he was wary of Johnny's reaction, since the last time they'd been talking about Mick it had almost ended in them having an argument. 

Obviously, Keith's absent-mindedness and confusion was rooted in what had happened at Mick's flat that Saturday, a little over a week ago. They’d had an amazingly great time and Keith didn't know when he last had that much fun jamming with someone. Playing together with Mick had come completely natural, like they'd done so for years already and not like it was the first time they actually did so. It had been a blast that he absolutely wanted to repeat, but then they'd gotten too close to each other. And Keith had been overwhelmed by thoughts that made his mind spin and feelings he hadn't known how to handle. The only way out had seemed to leave, to get away from Mick and what he sparked in him. 

In that moment, when Mick was leaning so closely that he could feel his warm breath on his skin, his hand caressing his cheek, and his lips only centimetres away from touching his own, it all had fallen like scales from Keith's eyes. Why he enjoyed it so much to spend time with Mick, why seeing him with Sam made him feel at unease, why Johnny's words had bothered him so much. Because they were true. Johnny, even though probably just joking, had been right all along. Keith actually fancied Mick. 

He was fairly certain he did, it was almost painfully obvious now and he didn't know why he hadn't realised it before. The way he felt when being around him, all happy and giddy, how he enjoyed Mick's hugs, because it was an excuse to touch him and be close to him, how Mick always made him smile and laugh at his ridiculous comments, or his attempts at flirting. Keith was aware by now that Mick probably had tried flirting with him since that night they met. He always was amazingly sweet and charming and until that moment between them in Mick's flat, Keith had simply assumed that it was just Mick's nature. Maybe it was, but after replaying their conversations in his head, there was almost no doubt left in Keith's mind that Mick was fancying him. 

He'd gone out of his way to make it plain to Keith that he wasn't dating Sam, on the contrary, he'd outright asked him whether it would be that bad if Keith and him were dating. Keith still couldn't give a definitive answer to that. After the initial influx of panic that literally made him flee Mick's flat, he'd mostly been confused and conflicted about it. 

On one hand, he couldn't deny that there was something between Mick and himself that obviously was more than just amicable. Their relation was friendly, but that wasn’t all there was to it, considering that tension which always seemed to accompany them. The tension that always made Keith feel somewhat uncomfortable when Mick was holding his gaze for a moment too long, or when they got a little too close to each other and he forgot what he was about to do or say until he found a way to distract from it. 

On the other hand, Keith wasn't queer. He'd never felt that way about another bloke and had only always been with women. He'd never looked at a lad and thought he was fit or had beautiful eyes or whatever. He never wanted to be with another man, kiss him, or shag him. That's why he just couldn't explain to himself, where that burning urge to just get closer to Mick and kiss him had come from while they were shotgunning. Keith couldn't even tell whether he actually was physically attracted to Mick. He was quite pretty, Keith supposed, if this was even a term to describe a lad. But Mick definitely was, with his fair, almost feminine features, his bright blue eyes and those full, sensual lips. Mick was really handsome and clearly knew it, nevertheless he didn't strike Keith as vain. However, he knew that he mostly was into him because of that connection they shared.

They'd hit it off amazingly well right from the start, they had so many mutual interests, they never run out of things to talk about and if so, one of them eventually would always come up with something new. But even just sitting there in silence with Mick wasn't uncomfortable. They made each other laugh all the time and playing guitar together had almost been somewhat of an epiphany. If all of this could solely be ascribed to ties of friendship, then why did he want to kiss Mick? He hadn't even been drunk or high, which might have explained things. But as it was, he couldn't blame it on being under the influence of something. And more importantly even, why couldn't he stop thinking about him, wondering all week long about that moment in his flat, imagining what it would feel like to actually kiss him? 

Even if Keith didn't think he was queer, Mick himself had told him, about having been with men and women, that he just liked whom he liked. Would it really be so bad then, if Keith liked Mick more than just a friend? He didn't know, but he supposed it wouldn't be that wrong. After all he couldn't choose whom to fancy. Mick might be a bloke but he was a wonderful human being, he was sweet, and charming, and made Keith laugh, and feel really happy whenever they spend time together. And admittedly, he wanted more of this and he missed him. He hadn’t planned on not talking to him in over a week. Never intended to not get back to him. But he just didn't know what to tell him. Keith was aware that he probably hurt him, it had been obvious from the tone of Mick's voice that he felt rejected. Hell, he'd even been crying when Keith left. And he didn't care about it because the only thing he had been able to think about was that he needed to get out of there. So he couldn't just ring him up and ask him to hang out, he knew that he had to make things right again first, but in order to do that, he needed to make clear to himself what he wanted. 

After much consideration, many sleepless nights, a lot of his time at work spent staring into nothing, just musing about things, he'd come to the conclusion, that he totally wanted, needed, to see Mick again. He missed him and was longing for his company because he'd managed to make Keith feel something that he hadn't felt since Helen. Only he wasn't sure how to approach him. And what to tell him. Also he was a little afraid of how Mick would react. Maybe he was too hurt and would reject him? Maybe he didn't want to be his friend anymore? 

Even more so, Keith was scared of the uncharted territory that would be coming up between them, in case Mick still wanted to talk to him. How would they proceed? Would they be friends, would they have to address their feelings? And then? Would they end up together? It made him feel all flustered, even just thinking about it. What it would be like being with Mick, romantically. What if they ended up kissing, or even in bed together, and Keith didn't like it? It would be horrible to have to reject Mick then after giving him some hope first. 

There were so many things unclear that he honestly had no clue what to say about and which was one of the main reasons he hadn't said anything to Johnny or Ronnie yet. He just didn't even know where to start and how to express his thoughts and feelings.

“Look, mate...I only gotta work in the afternoon tomorrow, so I got time to sit around here til the middle of the night if it needs be, until you finally start talking”, Ronnie meant after a while where Keith hadn't said a word and just turned his bottle of beer in his hands. “And I don't mean this as a threat, obviously, I’m just concerned, you know?”, he added, carefully looking over to him. Keith only sighed. 

“It's a long story”, is all he offered eventually. 

“As I said, I got time”, Ronnie replied with a toothy grin. 

“I don't know where to start…”, he mumbled, lighting a cigarette. 

“How about the beginning?”, Ronnie said like a smartass and Keith rolled his eyes at him. 

“Uhh...I told you about Mick, right?”

“I don't know?”

“The guy I was jamming with when you were watching Davie last weekend…”, Keith helped him out.

“Ahh, right...Mick. You didn't tell me how that went, by the way! Is this what this is all about?”, Ronnie concluded. Keith had only thanked him for looking after Davie and then all but thrown him out when he came back home that night…

“Uh, yeah…”, he admitted, scratching the back of his head in mild embarrassment. “It's what this is all about.”

“So?”, Ronnie encouraged him to go on. 

“I...uh...I really like hanging out with him a lot. And...playing guitar with him was...you know how brilliantly you and I can play together, mate...”, he meant, not really finding the right words just yet. 

“The ancient form of weaving”, Ronnie agreed, nodding. 

“Yeah, that. And with Mick...it's like that, too but not just when playing music. It's...we just work well together in a lot of aspects, I suppose?”

“I don't understand?”, Ronnie gave back, frowning. 

“Uh…”, Keith made, not quite sure how to explain things, until he remembered something. “Hey, you know when you told me about that guy you had a thing with?”

“What? Rod?”, Ronnie asked in surprise, not catching up to it yet. “Of course, yeah...but that was ages ago...we were mates and we got pretty drunk and high one night when clubbing...uh...I don't really remember much? And after that happened we just didn't ever talk about it and forgot it happened”, he told him with a laugh. 

“Oh, right...but...did you fancy him?”, Keith wanted to know. 

“No, of course not. We were mates, still are. I’ve got Sally now, why would I fancy him?”, Ronnie insisted. 

“But you shagged?”

“I honestly don't remember much, man…only that I probably topped, cause Rod couldn't sit properly the next morning”, he grinned stupidly and Keith grimaced at that. 

“Ugh, shut it, Ron…”, he commented, clearly embarrassed at that mental image. 

He hadn't even dared going there with his thoughts yet when thinking about being with Mick. In his imagination everything had been quite innocent. Actually the only thing he always kept musing about was what it would feel like to kiss him. Since he'd freaked out at that opportunity and now was wondering what it would have been like. 

“Wait…”, Ronnie disrupted his train of thoughts, apparently finally getting where Keith was headed. “What is this all about? Did you and Mick…?”, his friend now looked at him out of wide eyes.

“No, nothing happened between me and Mick”, Keith denied. It was true. Nothing really happened. Except that he freaked out because he felt something for Mick that he shouldn't be feeling for somebody whom he just wanted to be friends with. 

“What then? Did he come on to you?”, Ronnie inquired and Keith just shook his head lightly. He didn't know whether Mick had wanted to kiss Keith as badly as he wanted to kiss him, but he hadn't tried it after all. 

“I...uh...I think I might fancy him...”, he eventually confessed, so quietly that he wasn't sure whether Ronnie even heard him and dragged on his cigarette. 

“Oh”, Ronnie just made in reply, so he had heard him and apparently was at a loss for words now. 

“I'm not gay”, Keith felt the need to point out, not sure what to make of Ronnie's reaction as he got a little nervous about it. 

“I didn't think that. But even if so, mate...I’d be cool with that”, Ronnie replied, winking at him and it made Keith smile lightly in relief. 

“Thanks”, he mumbled, glad that his best friend was taking these news so well. 

“So...but what does this mean?”, Ronnie wanted to know then. 

“I don't know…”, he said, almost sounding ashamed that he couldn't give him a better answer. 

“But you like him more than just as a mate?”, he went on asking. 

“I...I think so”, he returned, though it almost sounded like a question. 

“Why do you think you fancy him?”

“Cause...I...uh...I got pretty jealous over him and...we were shotgunning...and I...I really wanted to kiss him…”, he admitted, feeling his cheeks grow hot. Ronnie didn't even bat an eye, though. 

“But do you also want to be with him?”, he asked, completely calm. 

“I don't know…”, Keith repeated and almost got frustrated with himself for not being able to answer these questions. 

“So, you want to kiss him”, Ronnie asserted and Keith only nodded in reply, taking a drag from his cigarette. 

“And you really like him?”, Keith nodded yet again, as Ronnie sipped on his beer. 

“Are you happy when you're spending time with him?”

“Yeah...he's amazing...incredibly talented, and charming...I really like him. A lot”, he meant, feeling himself get a little flustered at his own words. He probably sounded like he was having the biggest crush on Mick. Which he might actually have. 

Ronnie was smiling lightly at Keith's words and added in agreement: “You really do like him.” Keith smirked a little, ducking his head. He totally did. 

“And what about him? Does he fancy you too?”, Ronnie wanted to know next.

“Yeah...he does”, Keith affirmed, but a sad smile was tugging on his lips. What good was this knowledge if he probably had fucked it all up before it even started? 

“So what's the problem then?”, Ronnie obviously wanted to know because Keith hadn't told him that part yet. 

“I run off...after...I wanted to kiss him, but I didn't and just left. And he was really hurt by it...he cried and I just left”, Keith admitted, feeling pretty bad about it. “And I didn't see him since, or talk to him...I don't know what to say or what to do about it”, he sighed, taking some gulps from his beer. 

“Do you want to see him again?”

“Yeah...I miss him…”, Keith admitted, sighing once more. Not a day had passed where he hadn't thought about Mick. About the time they spent together. The things they talked about. Their little jokes and banter. Playing guitar. All he wanted was to see him and talk to him again, but he had no plan how to go about it. 

“Well, as I see it...he likes you and you like him, too. And if you miss him and want to see him again, you probably should just go for it. Talk to him and apologise”, Ronnie summed it up as if it all was that simple. 

“I guess?”

“It's the logical thing to do”, his friend meant and Keith was really thankful that Ronnie, who usually had an inclination of acting like a buffoon, actually was taking him seriously and was really trying to help him out here. 

“But what do I do then?”, he wondered. 

“I don't know...tell him you fancy him? Ask him out?”, Ronnie suggested, grinning. 

“You mean?”

“You should at least try. Otherwise you won't feel better about it”, he said and Keith nodded. It sounded logical indeed. 

“But what if I…”, he started, feeling awkward about asking Ronnie that question. 

“What?”

“If he forgives me and...hypothetically we might...get together?...uh...what if I kiss him and won't like it?”

“Did you ever make out with a girl and it was just pretty gross?”, Ronnie asked, laughing. 

“Uh...yeah”, he grimaced only at the memory of it. 

“See, happens sometimes, and then you just know that it's probably not the right one”, his friend said with a grin. 

“Yeah, but I mean, you know, being with him that way...cause he's a bloke and everything...”, Keith tried to clarify and Ronnie just smirked at him stupidly, obviously catching up on what he was actually trying to say. 

“Well...if it comes to that, you won't know if you don't even try, right? And maybe you'll end up really liking it”, Ronnie grinned at him and Keith felt himself blushing hard. 

“So...I just...go to him and apologise?”

“Sounds like a plan”, Ronnie agreed and lifted his beer bottle. “Cheers to that!” 

 

After talking to Ronnie, Keith needed a whole more day to work up all of his courage until he finally decided that it was time to go see Mick. It was Wednesday, shortly after noon, when he took his lunch break to drop by at the record shop Mick was working at to finally talk to him. He didn't dare just stopping by at his flat, and calling him felt wrong either. This was something they should be talking about in person. 

Walking out of Temple station, he felt his hands get increasingly sweaty and his heartbeat quicken as he spotted the small record shop that Mick had mentioned to him so many times before. Nervously, he wiped his hands off on his jeans and then stuffed them into his pockets while approaching the shop. As he stood right in front of it, he took some deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves, before pushing the door open and stepped inside. 

He got lucky, Mick was there by himself, sitting behind the sales counter, his boss and owner of the shop apparently just wasn't there and neither was any customer. As Mick spotted him, his eyes went wide in surprise. 

“Hi”, Keith brought out, as he stepped closer and Mick got up from his chair, still staring at him pretty baffled. He tried a little smile, but Mick didn't return it. Keith couldn't blame him, but it made him feel only more nervous than he already was. 

“Hi”, he just replied. “What are you doing here?”, he added then, obviously stunned. 

“Is it alright if we talk?”, Keith asked, sounding almost coy, not looking at him directly, as his heart beat heavy against his ribs. 

“Okay, yeah”, Mick nodded after a short moment and stepped out from behind the sales counter to walk over to the door and turn the sign around from “Open” to “Closed”. Keith was quite relieved that he didn't yell at him or send him away. At least now he had a chance to explain. 

“My boss stayed home sick today”, Mick said, stepping back towards him and leaned against the counter, looking at him expectantly. Keith sighed quietly, it was now or never. 

“Mick, listen...I'm sorry about...when I was over at your place and just left...I shouldn't have run away like that. I’m sorry…”, he spilled out his apology, now finally managing to look at him. He still seemed to be somewhat surprised to see Keith there, or maybe about what he just said. But at least, he appeared to relax a little and the look in his eyes became softer. 

“Why...why did you leave then?”, Mick asked him quietly. It was a justified question and obviously Keith had expected it. He owed him an explanation. 

“Because...I...I got freaked out...”, he said, feeling somewhat ashamed about his behaviour. 

“What by?”, Mick inquired, sounding quite curious now. 

“By how much I care about you”, Keith admitted, feeling heat rise up inside him. He still held Mick's gaze, who clearly seemed to be even more taken aback now. 

“You...you do?”, he got out. Apparently he hadn't expected a confession like that at all. 

“A lot, actually…”, Keith admitted, blushing heavily and quickly averted his gaze for a moment. 

“I thought you...didn't feel that way. I...I thought I fucked it all up and I'd never see you again”, Mick said and as Keith looked back up at him, he could see his eyes getting a little teary. 

“And I thought I fucked it all up and you didn't want to see me again”, Keith returned with a stupid, relieved chuckle that Mick joined in to after a while. 

“But I want to see you...and I'm so glad that you came here. Because I really care a lot about you, too”, Mick confessed, he sounded incredibly relieved and smiled at him softly, making Keith mirror his smile. It took a tremendous load of his mind that he hadn't even felt there to this extent. 

“So…”, he meant, after they had just been smiling at each other for a moment, biting his lip, thinking about what Ronnie had told him. “Uh...do you…would you maybe like to have dinner with me?” 

“I'd be happy to”, Mick agreed without hesitation and it made both of them grin. 

“How about Friday night?”, Keith suggested, smiling widely. 

“Sure, that's perfect”, Mick said, sounding as excited about this prospect as Keith felt about it. 

“Okay, fine. I'll call you tomorrow then and let you know more”, he meant and Mick nodded eagerly. 

“So, does this mean this is a date?”, Mick grinned, clearly with an amused sparkle in his eyes and Keith wondered whether he also thought back of that conversation they had the other week. 

“I guess so”, he grinned back at him and in the next moment, Mick had pulled him into a tight embrace which Keith gladly returned. He wrapped his arms around Mick's back with his head pressed against Mick's silky hair, breathing in his scent that was an odd but enjoyable mix of sweet and fresh. 

“I'm really looking forward to this”, Mick said softly against his neck, before eventually letting go of him again. 

“Yeah, me too”, Keith agreed, smiling in anticipation.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!   
> thanks a lot for reading, your kudos and comments, I'm so amazed and happy that you seem to like thid story so much, aww :)  
> Also sorry that this took a while longer, I was sick last week and barely couldn't do anything for a couple days...anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and it didn't turn out too cheesy hahaha xD

“So what did you wanna tell me?”, Johnny wanted to know, looking at Keith curiously. 

It was Friday noon and they were sitting around in the backroom of their shop, eating sandwiches. Ronnie had “casually” dropped by as well. Actually Keith had called him the night before, right after getting off the phone with Mick. He had only wanted to tell him a place where they could meet for their dinner date this night, a small Italian restaurant in Islington, but then they'd ended up talking for almost an hour about everything and nothing, joking around, and laughing. After that, Keith had been so giddy that he couldn't think of anything but ringing up Ronnie to tell him about it, and they'd agreed that maybe Keith should also let Johnny know. Because if he only found out about it later, then probably he'd be pissed about Keith not saying anything earlier. But seeing that the last time Keith had brought up Mick in front of his business partner hadn't went so well, he wanted Ronnie there as a buffer. 

“Uh, Ronnie's watching Davie tonight cause I'm going out”, Keith announced and Johnny frowned.

“Uh huh...interesting, I thought it was gonna be a little more spectacular”, Johnny commented, rolling his eyes, taking a bite of his tuna sandwich. 

“On a date”, Keith added and at these words Johnny actually listened up, his curiosity sparked now. 

“You met a bird? Tell us more!”, his friend meant now. “Oh...you already told Ronnie, didn't you? Why am I always the last to the party?”, he added then in faked outrage. 

“Cause you're a nosy bastard”, Ronnie mocked him, earning himself a punch on the upper arm for it. 

“So, who is she?”, Johnny went on asking, proving Ronnie's point. 

“Uh...actually...it's not a bird”, he admitted quietly, not directly looking at his friend, but at the almost untouched sandwich in front of him. 

“What?”, Johnny asked in complete surprise. “Then whom are you going on a date with?”

“Mick”, is all he offered. 

“You...what? You're...you're going out with that snob? On a date?”, Johnny asked, totally bewildered as if Keith had just told him about seeing a ghost, or an alien. 

“He isn't a snob”, Keith insisted, shooting his friend an angry glare. 

“Wait, does that mean...are you a queer? You wanna shag that bloke?”

“Johnny!”, Ronnie threw in, sounding outraged by his words. 

“You're gay now, or what?”, Johnny went on, as if he didn’t even hear Ronnie. 

“It's...it's not like that...I really care about him”, Keith tried, feeling somewhat hopeless and at a loss for words. Above all, he was disappointed about how one of his best friends was reacting to a confession so personal and delicate. 

“I don't wanna grope you, or put my tongue down your throat if that's what you're afraid of”, he finally gave back, passive-aggressively, because he was hurt by Johnny. He'd known the guy for fifteen years and hearing him say all these things made him feel more than just rejected. 

“Yeah cause you're too ugly”, Ronnie agreed, a sour glare directed at their friend. 

“Piss off, Ron...what the hell, man? I only was joking when I said it looks like you're dating that guy, and now you're telling me it's true?”, Johnny gave back, apparently unphased by the fact that he was behaving like a complete arsehole. 

“What the fuck is your problem, John?”, Keith asked, quite annoyed by now, and luckily Ronnie jumped to his aid. 

“Why can't you just be happy for him?”, Ronnie agreed, getting on his feet to stand right in front of Johnny and grabbed his arm, as if to shake some sense into him. “Keith's one of your oldest mates, your business partner, his kid is your godson, for fuck's sake. He went through some bad shit after Helen, you know that...and now you cannot even manage to be happy for him? Just because the person he fancies happens to be a bloke?”, he all but hissed at Johnny, pushing him, before letting go of him again to walk over to where Keith was sitting. 

“Oh, and you know why Keith told me first?”, Ronnie jabbed another blow at Johnny. “Not cause you're a nosy bastard, which you are, but because I noticed that he sincerely cares about Mick and I told him it's alright instead of insulting him.” 

“Thank you”, Keith whispered to Ronnie, who just pressed his shoulder lightly, as he watched Johnny duck his head in embarrassment. 

“I'm sorry”, Johnny sighed, eventually, apparently realising how rude and impossible his behaviour had been. “I'm sorry, mate...it's just...a pretty big revelation...”, he lifted his arms in an almost helpless gesture, apparently not sure what else to do or say. 

“Well, I thought you wanted something more spectacular”, Keith gave back, the hurt tone still hadn't completely left his voice. At least Johnny seemed to regret his prior insults. Probably he just needed some time, but hopefully he'd come to terms with it. 

“So...you...you actually are having feelings for this lad?”, Johnny wanted to know after a moment, daring to look over at him. 

“His name’s Mick”, Keith reminded him, his tone somewhat exasperated. 

“Mick, yeah...I'm sorry”, Johnny repeated, sounding quite sheepish, something not familiar to him. “You really fancy him?”, he tried again and Keith only nodded. 

“I see”, Johnny commented and then that typical grin of his spread on his face and Keith could already sense that whatever would leave his mouth next would be something he'd roll his eyes at because it was either silly, or idiotic, or probably even both. 

“So, if you're going out with him tonight...does that mean you're finally getting laid again?”, he smirked and Keith didn't know whether he wanted to put his face into his hands, or throw Johnny an unnerved look, or maybe even punch him. But as even Ronnie chuckled a little, he decided to go with a sigh. At least Johnny had stopped acting like a rude git and was just acting like a silly kid now. 

“It's just a first date”, he downplayed, but he noticed how his cheeks were growing hot and he averted his gaze down to the floor. Before Johnny mentioned it, he hadn't even thought about it, but now he surely wouldn't be able to ban this matter from his mind anymore and it sure as hell was making him incredibly nervous. 

“Well, you almost kissed already”, Ronnie pointed out, grinning at him stupidly and Keith questioned why his friends needed to be such jerks. 

“We didn't”, he negated, actually rolling his eyes now. This was ridiculous. It clearly was possible to go out with someone without immediately ending up in bed together right the first time. 

“You kissed?”, Johnny threw in, sounding somewhat scandalous in mocking. 

“We did not”, Keith repeated, wondering whether he was talking to two grown men or to two kindergarteners. 

“You will tonight”, Johnny meant with a shitearing grin and for a second Keith contemplated to get up and punch him. He surely would deserve it for everything he said before. But he decided against it and settled on an irritated glare. 

“Well, mate, whatever happens tonight, you know you can tell us”, Ronnie winked at him and Keith snorted. As if. 

“Maybe I don't even want to tell you, cause you're tossers”, he gave back but in a joking way, as his best friends just kept grinning at him stupidly. 

 

A couple hours later, Ronnie dropped by at his place to look after Davie. Keith was already dressed up, ready to go, as he opened the door for him, holding his son on one arm. 

“Hey there, little matey”, Ronnie greeted Davie, making some funny grimaces at him that made him giggle and wriggle around on Keith's arm. 

“Hey, mate, thanks again for doing this”, Keith meant, but Ronnie just waved it off, saying it's not a problem.

“Yeah, that's right, your uncle Ronnie is staying with you tonight cause your daddy is going out”, Ronnie explained to Davie. 

“Dada”, Davie babbled and Keith beamed at him because he was simply adorable. Then he pressed a soft kiss to his honey blond curls before letting Ronnie take him. 

“Bye, little one, dad's gonna see you tomorrow, be good”, he told his baby boy. “I just fed and bathed him, so you need to only still tuck him in then, but you know how to handle this laddie”, he said directed at Ronnie, who nodded in agreement. 

“Have fun mate...and in case you actually end up shagging, remember, at least none of you can get pregnant”, Ronnie grinned and if he wasn't holding his son, Keith would have punched him.

“Funny, Ron”, he only meant, sounding not amused at all. 

“Come on, mate...just enjoy yourself, alright?”, Ronnie said, on a little more serious note now and Keith nodded.

“Will do, see you!”, Keith replied, before grabbing his keys and walking out the door. 

 

Twenty minutes later, he arrived in front of the small Italian restaurant that he'd spotted one night while out drinking with Ronnie. It had looked really sweet and stayed on his mind because of the nice ambiance. Back then, Helen had just left him, so obviously he hadn't been in the mood for dating, but he'd remembered it again now and figured it was just the right place. Also, who didn't love Italian food? 

Keith was a bit early, not too much, though, but obviously Mick wasn't there yet. So he pulled out a cigarette and lighted it, leaning against some nearby house wall. He couldn't deny that he was a little nervous, even though it was just dinner. They'd be amongst other people, so it wasn't to be expected that they'd end up making out right there at the table. Still, after his friends had felt the need to point out the possibility of getting laid, Keith felt somewhat edgy about it. If he was meeting some girl, he'd certainly be a bit excited, but since Mick was a bloke, he felt like completely being thrown into uncharted waters. 

Before he could further worry about this, though, he spotted Mick approaching from the nearby bus-stop. As soon as he noticed that Keith had seen him, a wide smile spread on his face and Keith couldn't do else but return it. 

“Hey, have I been letting you wait?”, Mick asked as he was close enough and then pulled him into a warm hug, quickly pressing a small kiss to his cheek. 

“Hey, no it's fine, I just got here too”, Keith returned with a smile before they stepped inside the restaurant and they were led over to the table Keith had reserved. It had been a wise decision to call there and do so because every single table was taken and it was rather busy. But neither of them seemed to care much about it, and once the waiter had taken the order for their drinks, red wine, Keith caught Mick staring at him, smiling almost sheepishly. 

“What?”, he asked, a slightly amused tone in his voice and a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“I was just thinking that you’re looking really handsome tonight”, Mick explained with an honest smile and Keith felt himself blushing slightly at these words. 

“Thanks...well, I know how to clean up nicely if I want to, and not just throw on the next best t-shirt”, he replied and Mick chuckled lightly. 

“You're looking rather dapper yourself tonight, but then again, I don't think I've ever seen you poorly dressed”, Keith added jokingly and winked at Mick, who to his surprise, actually blushed a tad. He hadn't experienced him as bashful yet, so it was nice to realise that Keith wasn't the only one with fluttering nerves. Which he managed to hide quite well so far by just talking. 

By the time their food arrived, Keith had told him about his best friends’ reactions to him letting them know about the date, and Mick had thrown in some funny anecdotes about the first times he told some of his own friends about going out with lads. This evoked so many questions Keith was dying to get an answer to, like when did Mick figure that he fancied blokes too? Did he just always know, or did he find out eventually? And what had it been like for him to fall for another man for the first time? But Keith didn't dare to ask any of these questions yet. First of all, he was aware that a restaurant probably wasn’t the best place to discuss all of this, and also didn't he want to appear too nosy all at once. 

Instead, they ended up trying each other's meals, Keith had lasagna and Mick pasta with seafood, and then went on talking about holiday trips they'd taken with family and friends to Brighton, the Scottish highlands, Paris, or Ireland. They kept happily chatting about everything and nothing and made each other laugh for long after they'd finished eating. Eventually they decided to order some tiramisu as a dessert that they could share. They were almost through with the sweet and some more wine as well, as Mick asked him:

“Keith? Can I tell you something?” It seemed kind of an oddly worded question to him, because Mick could just tell him after all, but nevertheless, he agreed of course. 

“Yeah, sure”, he meant, encouraging Mick with a little smile to go on. 

“Uh...you know, while I was thinking that you probably didn't want to see me again...I was playing and writing a lot of music. And I...I just couldn’t stop thinking about you...and about jamming with you”, here he stopped himself, biting his lower lip, looking somewhat embarrassed. But Keith could only understand him too well. 

“Actually I felt the exact same way...”, he admitted, not without blushing, though, making Mick look at him in surprise. 

“You did? Did you also play some new music?”, he wanted to know, astounded. 

“I was too busy at the shop to even think about it...but what did you want to say?”, Keith reminded him. 

“Oh, just...that song you played to me, the catchy one? You said you didn’t have lyrics for it yet...well, I know I probably should have asked you first, but...I was somewhat high and just...I got some lyrics stuck in my mind, playing that riff and I wrote them down”, Mick mentioned and almost seemed a bit embarrassed about it. 

“You did?”, Keith now repeated Mick's prior question in wonder. He hadn't expected that at all. 

“Yeah, I hope this was okay, I mean it's your song”, Mick returned, sounding somewhat abashed. 

“Don't worry about that, it's not like I'm under contract”, Keith simply brushed it off with a smirk. “But can I see the lyrics you wrote?” He honestly was curious about what Mick had come up with. Maybe they could finish writing that song together. 

“Of course, yeah”, Mick replied, a smile spreading on his face. “I...I was wondering anyway whether you maybe wanted to come to my place once we're done here...get another drink...then I could show you the lyrics”, he added, it sounded like a question, though, and Mick was acting almost sheepish. 

The way he brought forward this offer didn't strike Keith as one someone would make if they only wanted to seduce somebody. Mick had mostly seemed quite bold, incredibly charming and flirty almost every single time they had seen each other before. But tonight, so far he'd only been charming in a really sweet way, somewhat flirty, and mostly quite bashful. Which Keith admittedly found endearing, because it was a side of Mick he didn't think he had. Most of the time he seemed rather self-confident, like he knew exactly what he had and wasn't shy to show and use it. Except for the time where Keith basically run away from him and Mick had seemed like he was about to break out in tears, he hadn't experienced him that coy yet. 

“Okay, yeah…you gotta show me these lyrics you came up with after all”, Keith agreed after a moment and Mick was smiling sweetly at him in reply. 

He thought that even if it wasn't for the lyrics, he'd accepted to come along to Mick's place, just so that they could spend some more time together. Everything had been going brilliantly and they'd had an amazing time so far. Keith was totally enjoying himself and it was fairly obvious that Mick did as well. 

Once they were all done, Keith waved the waiter over to pay for both of them, and after Mick had established that he'd treat Keith the next time they’d go out somewhere, they eventually left the restaurant. While strolling down the street towards the next tube station, passing by some more restaurants and the one or other pub, Mick mentioned that he'd really liked the restaurant and Keith told him about how he'd first noticed it and that he'd wanted to try it out for quite some time. 

“Well, it's a good thing you decided to ask me out then”, Mick replied, smirking at him in the stale light of the tube on the westbound train that they were taking to his Chelsea flat. They ended up lightly bantering each other and chuckling all the way back to Mick's place. Some people even turned around at them, thinking they probably were drunk, which just made them giggle harder. Actually they both weren't even really tipsy, they just were having a little too much fun. 

When they arrived at Mick's flat, they sat down in the living room with some whiskey and Mick's acoustic guitar. He handed it to Keith, before pulling out some notes from a notebook on the coffee table. 

“Play the riff for me, I'll try to sing along”, Mick suggested and Keith only nodded, before starting to play, listening to what Mick had come up with so far. It wasn't that much, but it was absolutely brilliant. 

“Wow”, he just meant, once Mick stopped singing. “It's totally amazing...I would never have thought about writing it like that!”

“Therefor you came up with that riff”, Mick replied, smirking. 

“We should try finishing that song together some time”, he mused then and Mick eagerly nodded. 

“Yeah we should, it's a great song!”, he simply agreed. 

“I really love your singing voice by the way”, Keith quietly admitted after a moment and felt his cheeks flush. 

“Thanks”, he gave back, slightly smiling at him. “So...do you wanna jam a little?”, Mick added then and Keith only nodded, grinning widely. 

Mick grabbed one of his other acoustic guitars and they just started playing some random tunes, falling into their very own rhythm once more. It was like the music completely engulfed them and nothing else seemed important anymore, but their fingers moving over the strings, eliciting some well known, and also some new and original melodies. They could have played for twenty minutes, an hour, or probably even two, Keith didn't know, it was like he'd completely lost track of time. The only thing that mattered was playing and Mick giving him a sweet, excited smile every now and again that he happily returned. Eventually they both laid the guitars down, though, wordlessly deciding that it's been enough for tonight. 

For a moment they both silently sipped on their whiskey, as if to decide what to do or say next. Mick was smiling at him lightly and suddenly Keith became aware of how hard his heart was beating in his chest and how dry his mouth had turned, even despite the drink. He started fidgeting with the whiskey glass in his hand, not able to directly look at Mick, because he was making him nervous. It was like only now, that they weren't playing guitar anymore, did he realise that he was sitting right next to the man he had taken out on a date because he was having feelings for him. 

“Keith?”, Mick softly asked him and finally he dared to look up at him. “Is everything alright?”

“It's just...uh…”, he started, not knowing what to say, taking a deep breath instead. “Nervous, I guess”, he eventually admitted, ducking his head. 

“There's no need to be”, Mick assured him, reaching out to gently run his fingers over the back of Keith's hand. A little shiver ran through his body at Mick's touch, but it wasn't unwelcome. “We spent a great evening together, didn't we?”, he reminded him and Keith nodded, smiling a little. “Are you thinking about going home now?”

“Are you trying to throw me out?”, Keith returned in a joking tone that made Mick grin a little. 

“No”, he shook his head as if to underline his statement. “I don't want you to leave yet.”

“Neither do I”, Keith admitted, he just couldn't get himself to get up and leave right now. It had been too amazing and he wanted it to last and draw it out for a while longer. 

“So...how about a dance?”, Mick asked then, completely baffling him.

“What?”, he asked in return, just staring at him as if he didn't hear him correctly. 

“Do you wanna dance?”, Mick repeated, eagerly smiling at him and he already had jumped up and over to his record player to put some record on. It was a rock’n'roll record, the first song by Fats Domino, and Mick came back, widely grinning, to reach out a hand to him. 

“May I?”, he said, not without chuckling and made Keith laugh as well. “Come on!”, he nudged him, until Keith finally grabbed his hand and let himself get pulled up. Then they actually started dancing rock’n'roll right there in Mick's living room, grinning at each other completely frolic the whole time. 

“Your neighbours must hate you”, Keith commented somewhen in the middle of the third song, one by Jerry Lee Lewis, but Mick only shrugged and smiled, spinning him around. 

“It's not that loud, is it?”, he meant, smirking. “So far nobody complained.” 

Both of them sounded a little out of breath from all the hopping and whirling around, so Keith was glad as the next song proved to be a rather slow tune. He already was on his way over to the couch table to take a sip from his drink, as Mick took his hand, pulling him back again. 

“Just one more song”, he jokingly pleaded, grinning at him. 

“You cannot even dance to it”, Keith argued, a laugh on his lips. 

“You can slow dance”, Mick meant, and before Keith could do anything else, he'd already wrapped his arms around his neck and started to sway to the rhythm. Keith chuckled lightly, placing his arms at Mick's hips, swaying along with him. Only as Mick nuzzled his face against Keith's neck did it become obvious to him how incredibly close they were to each other. It made his heartbeat quicken again and his breath hitch in his throat. 

“Hey”, Mick quietly said as Keith stiffened a little and shifted away from him a bit so that he could look at him. “Am I making you nervous?”, he wanted to know, not able to keep a slightly amused tone out of his voice, but he smiled at him softly, letting Keith know that he wasn't mocking him. Keith could only nod in reply, not able to get out a word because his mouth was so dry. 

“You don't have to be”, Mick reassured him, lightly tracing little patterns on his back with one hand. 

“It's just...uh...cause you're...you're the first lad...and I've never…”, he stammered, incoherently, not getting out a full sentence and blushed in embarrassment. 

“It's fine, really. There's no need to worry, Keith. I won't make you do anything you're not ready to. I just really want to be with you and spend time with you”, Mick explained looking at him softly and Keith couldn't do else but smile at his words and nod a little. It was incredibly cute and considerate. For a while, they were just standing really close, Mick's arms wrapped around his neck lightly and Keith's hands placed at his hips, while the slow music was playing in the background. Keith mirrored Mick's lovely smile, as his heart still was beating heavily against his ribs. Mick was being amazingly sweet and they were so close to each other that Keith could actually feel his warm breath on his skin. It made him become a little dizzy, but in a comforting way. Like this, Keith was overcome once more by the longing to kiss Mick. This time, however, he didn't have the urge to run and get away from him. He rather was drawn to him, almost mesmerised by him and all he could think of anymore was how it would be like to feel Mick's lips upon his own. 

“Can I kiss you?”, Keith eventually dared to ask so quietly that he almost wasn't sure whether Mick had heard him. 

Apparently Mick hadn't expected him to ask this, at least not after what they had just talked about, so he looked a little dazzled for a moment. But then a cute little smile spread on his face. Instead of replying, he only nodded lightly and then pulled Keith closer until their lips finally met. Keith kissed him gently at first, almost shy even, Mick's lips feeling soft against his own. He tasted like the whiskey they’d drunk and as Mick dug a hand into his hair, messing it up, Keith opened his mouth with a little sigh for Mick’s tongue to slide inside. His heart almost skipped a beat as Mick kept kissing him like this and he eagerly returned it. He cupped Mick's cheeks with his hands to bring him even closer, getting completely lost in the moment as all he could sense and feel and taste was Mick, tightly pressed against him. It was a wonderful feeling, leaving him completely light-headed. Eventually, they had to break apart, though, gasping for air. They still were holding each other closely, foreheads leaned together, cheeks and lips reddend as they were grinning at each other giddily. 

“Wow”, Keith only got out for lack of anything better to say. It had been one hell of a first kiss and he almost couldn't get enough of it. Mick was an amazing kisser and it had felt simply incredible. 

“I know”, Mick replied, smiling widely, sounding as amazed and taken aback as Keith was feeling. 

“I...this was really bloody wonderful...but I think I should be going home now”, Keith meant after a while, as both of them had returned to breathing evenly and he backed away from him a little further. He didn't sound like he actually meant it, though, which was because he didn't want to leave just yet. But he knew it would be the only reasonable thing to do. Everything had went just perfectly up to this point, he was a little afraid that if he stayed now, things might only get awkward and he might ruin it all. 

“Do you want to leave?”, Mick asked, sensing his hesitation. They weren't clinging to each other anymore now, but Mick had taken one of his hands and entwined their fingers. 

“I should”, Keith only said in reply. 

“Or do you want to spend the night?”, Mick suggested, almost casually. 

“Mick...I…”, he started, not sure what to say. Kissing him had been incredible and he'd gladly do so again right now. But even the thought of going anywhere beyond that made him all flustered and he knew he wouldn't be able to deal with it. Not now at least. 

“Oh, no, I meant just sleeping...you can stay on the couch if you like?”, Mick clarified, as he realised how his suggestion might have sounded and that it had made Keith get quite embarrassed. “I...I mean if you want to”, he added. “It got pretty late already.” 

Keith took a look at his watch. Indeed, it was almost 2am by now, time had been flying without even realising it. He could take a night bus home, but it would take forever, or he could call a cab, which would be pretty expensive. 

“Okay...I'll stay, if that's alright with you”, he gave back eventually, it almost sounded like a question. 

“Sure”, Mick smiled at him widely. “I'll get you a blanket...and some pyjama pants and a t-shirt as well”, he added and already rushed off, leaving Keith behind, grinning a little astounded. 

While Mick was gone, he wandered over to the record player, stopping it, and put the acoustic guitars that they'd left lying around back onto their stands and flopped down on the comfortable couch. 

“Here you go!”, Mick announced as he came back into the living room. “I brought you a towel as well...do you need anything else?”, he asked, putting the things down on the couch next to Keith. 

“Thanks...uh, a glass of water maybe”, Keith returned and Mick nodded. 

“You can use the bathroom, I'll get you some water in the meantime”, he offered and Keith just smiled at him gratefully, before grabbing the towel and the pyjamas Mick had given him, and left for the bathroom.

When coming back, dressed in Mick's clothes that fit him pretty well since they were about the same size, Mick also had changed into his pyjamas and was sitting on the armrest of the couch, smiling at him. As Keith stepped closer, he got up and hugged him lightly. 

“Thanks for this amazing evening”, he softly whispered and gave him a sweet smile. 

“Thank you, it was really so much fun”, Keith agreed, returning his smile. He was holding Mick’s gaze for a little while, feeling incredibly content. Then Mick leaned in to press a tender kiss to his lips. 

“Sleep well, Keith”, he said, running a hand over his cheek softly, before turning to leave.

“You too, Mick”, Keith meant and then lied down on the couch, draping the blanket over himself. Mick was at the door, winking at him and smiling, before he turned off the light and walked over to his bedroom. Keith was way too giddy to fall asleep right away. His mind kept replaying everything that happened in the hours before, making him smile to himself in the darkened room, feeling indescribably happy. Eventually he grew tired enough though, and with the prospect that he'd be able to spend at least part of the morning with Mick as well, he finally drifted off to sleep. 

OoOoOo

As he woke up the next morning, Mick was still too sleepy at first to remember that Keith had spend the night at his place, over in the next room. Only as he recalled the memories of the past night and how amazingly perfect it all had been, he realised that Keith now was still there in his living room. Usually he would have taken whomever he picked up at a bar or brought home after a date to bed, shagging, but not Keith. With him it was completely different, and not only because Keith was understandably coy and nervous about being with another man for the first time. Mick didn't mind doing things at Keith's pace at all, because he sincerely cared for him. He didn't want to fuck this up by giving him the impression that he only wanted to get into his pants, because it couldn't be further from the truth. Mick was actually falling in love with him with every moment he spent with him and wanted Keith to be happy and comfortable. 

Just thinking about him being in the next room was enough to bring a huge smile to his face and he quickly kicked his blanket away to get up. He wanted to check whether Keith was still asleep, if so, maybe he could make breakfast before he woke up. So he tiptoed out of his bedroom over the floor and quietly peeked into the living room through the crack of the halfway open door. Keith wasn't there anymore. At the sight of the deserted couch, his heart dropped in a way that was almost painful. But as he turned around, he still saw Keith's jacket hanging in the floor, which made him feel oddly relieved. 

“Keith?”, he called out, assuming that he probably just was in the bathroom. 

“In the kitchen!”, came Keith's reply and Mick all but skipped over there, pushing the door open. Keith was standing at the cooker, barefoot, wearing his black jeans and Mick's grey t-shirt, turning his head as Mick entered the kitchen. 

“Hi there”, he smiled at him widely and only now did Mick realise that he was making pancakes. It also was smelling amazing. 

“Hey, morning”, Mick meant, returning his smile before walking over to him to hug him from behind and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. 

“You didn't have to make breakfast”, he mumbled, his arms wrapped around Keith's chest.

“But I wanted to, you let me stay here for the night after all”, Keith returned, taking the next pancake out of the pan and piled it on a plate with some others.

“Well of course”, Mick meant, naturally, nuzzling his face against Keith's neck, breathing in his scent. “Thanks for making breakfast”, he added then, smiling. It seemed like Keith was a total keeper. 

“Don’t mention it”, Keith said, and after he filled the last bit of dough into the pan, turned around in his arms, hugging him back. 

“Did you sleep well?”, Mick wanted to know, pressing some small kisses to Keith's neck.

“Yeah, that couch of yours is really pretty comfortable”, Keith grinned, as he let go of him again to check on the pancake. “I just couldn't sleep any longer and then decided to get up...a lot of the time Davie wakes up at around 6am already, so I'm used to being up early”, he explained and Mick hummed in reply, before deciding to cook some coffee and set the table, while Keith turned the pancake. 

Soon they were all set, sitting at the dining table in the living room, not the tiny kitchen table, and were enjoying their breakfast. 

“These are pretty good”, Mick commented, after having some bites of pancake.

“I make them all the time, Davie loves them with bananas and marmalade”, Keith chuckled and Mick smiled in reply. 

Then they ended up chatting about that they soon needed to jam again together and try to finish that song, maybe even come up with some others. Like this, time flew quickly, as always when they were together, and eventually Keith noticed with a look at his watch, that he really should be going home now.

“It's after 9:30am...I cannot keep Ronnie looking after Davie for much longer, I mean, I didn’t even plan on staying over…”, he explained, almost sighing. 

“It's fine, I completely understand. Go home to your boy”, Mick replied, stacking their plates and cups together to bring them into the kitchen. As he came back, Keith had changed into the dark blue shirt he’d been wearing the night before and put his shoes on. 

“When can I see you again?”, Keith wanted to know as they stepped onto the floor so he could retrieve his jacket. 

“We're playing a gig tomorrow night, do you want to come?” 

“I'd love to, but I can't. Davie…”, Keith trailed off, sounding apologetic. 

“I know. It's okay, really, don't worry. It was just a suggestion”, Mick said, smiling softly. He already had figured that Keith probably wouldn't be able to be there. 

“Yeah...I'm sorry”, he added, but Mick shook his head. 

“Don't. It's not our last gig”, he assured him. “How about lunch on Monday?” 

“Sure, yeah. Should I come around and pick you up?”, Keith's face lighted up visibly at that prospect. 

“Yeah, great”, Mick returned, grinning at him. 

“Alright then”, Keith meant, giving him a shy smile. It made Mick chuckle lightly because he looked amazingly endearing like that. 

“See you on Monday then”, he said, before pulling Keith closer by his open jacket to capture his lips in a kiss. It was a sweet, a tender kiss, as they lightly kept moving their lips against each other’s. And it was way too short for Mick's taste, as Keith pulled back eventually, one hand on the doorknob already. 

“Till then!”, he returned, smiling, and with a last wave, he was out of the door, leaving Mick back with a completely lovestruck smile on his face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> This is it, the last chapter...took me longer than expected, but then again, it also got longer than expected :D could have cut it in two but oh well...  
> Just some random notes about it: I literally had to google everything I wrote about Davie because I have no clue what a 25/26 month old can or cannot do, so in case I got something wrong, I'm sorry xD 
> 
> Somewhere in the text there is a piece of dialogue where I directly quoted a line from a Stones song, wonder whether you might find that :D xD 
> 
> There is some light smut at the end of the chapter, but it mainly is really really cute and just sweet love making...also yeah, probably this whole chapter in total is way too fucking sweet and you might get diabetes lol  
> Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this one, it was tough to write, thank you so much for reading/kudos/comments!
> 
> P.s. I already got some ideas for some new stories ;D

Like agreed, Keith dropped by at the record store to pick Mick up for lunch on Monday. He was just sorting some new records, but as soon as Mick noticed him entering the shop, his face lit up and Keith greeted him with a smile and a little wave of his hand. 

“Hey, Oscar, I’m going out for lunch break, is that alright?”, Mick called over to his boss, who was sitting behind the sales desk, doing some accounting. There only was one customer in at the moment, so surely he wouldn't be out of his depth. 

“Yeah, just don't take too long, mate”, Oscar replied without looking up from his work.

“Alright, see you!”, Mick told him, before finally shifting his full attention to Keith, and walked over to where he was standing by the rock records. 

“Hi there”, Mick smiled at him, pulling him into a short hug, patting his back lightly. He would have loved to kiss him, or at least peck his lips quickly, but he was more than aware that he couldn't do this in public. Not even just in front of Oscar, who usually was a pretty laid-back guy, but he also was in his mid-50s and probably wouldn't take it too well. Mick had been dating lads for long enough to know that in the best case scenario, interacting with another man in a way too familiar and close manner would get you odd stares at the very least. And since he liked having a job, he rather wouldn't risk finding out his boss’ reaction to seeing him in an intimate position with Keith. 

“Hey”, Keith replied, smiling widely and the fond look in his eyes made Mick’s heart swell in adoration for this man. 

“Did you spot anything good?”, Mick then nodded towards the records Keith had been eyeing. 

“Uh, I didn't really get to look properly”, Keith explained with a lopsided grin. 

“Maybe later then, but let's get something to eat first, shall we?”, he proposed good-naturedly and Keith only nodded before they left the shop and walked down the street, passing many stores, some restaurants, and diners, while Keith told him about a new job order that would keep him and Johnny busy for the next week. 

Eventually they settled on getting some sandwiches and ate them outside, relishing in the already warm April sun, watching passers-by hurrying along. Even if it was just such a simple activity as having lunch, they greatly were enjoying each other's company and getting to spend some time together, as limited as it might be. They were happily chatting the whole time, at first, Mick told Keith about the gig they played Saturday night and how amazing the crowd had been. Then Keith mentioned that he went to the zoo with Davie for the first time on Sunday afternoon and how the little one had been so excited about seeing all the animals and had especially loved the tigers and meerkats. 

“You should come with us next time”, Keith suggested, as they slowly made their way back to the record store. 

“You think?”, Mick wanted to know, a little surprised at that. He hadn't expected Keith to ask him about meeting his son anytime soon and actually that prospect made him get a little nervous, but apparently he wasn't the only one feeling that way. 

“Yeah, I mean, if you like…”, Keith returned, biting his lower lip. He sounded almost coy now and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Mick thought it was an endearing sight. 

“Sure, yeah, I'd love to”, he meant and watched Keith visibly relax at his reply. “Let me know when you want to go again”, he added, giving Keith a little smile that he mirrored. 

They reached the record store way too soon, and Mick wished that he didn't have to work again right now, but could keep strolling along the street with Keith, just talking. However, he knew that they couldn't do that, since Keith also had to get back to work. 

“Do you want to come around and jam a little sometime this week?”, he asked him as they stopped in front of the store. 

“Yeah, I'd be happy to”, Keith meant, smiling at that promise. “I'll call you about it, okay?”

“Of course, yeah”, Mick agreed. “I'm looking forward to it”, he added and then embraced Keith as they said their goodbyes. 

 

This wasn't the only time they had lunch together that week, the next time, only two days later, Mick came around to Keith's shop, completely unexpected. 

“Hey, what are you doing here?”, Keith asked, totally surprised, since they hadn't planned on seeing each other again that soon. He was rummaging around the saleroom, assembling and putting on display a drum set that they'd acquired for re-sale, but stopped doing so as Mick approached him. 

“I just wanted to say hi”, Mick said, a huge grin on his face and since nobody else was around at that moment, Keith embraced him in a long hug. He nuzzled his face against Mick's soft hair and Mick pressed a small, gentle kiss to his neck, before they let go of each other again, both smiling. 

“Hi”, Keith gave back, smirking, which made Mick chuckle. 

“Hi”, he returned, grinning widely. “Do you want to have lunch with me?”, he added then, a tad more seriously. 

“I'll just ask Johnny about it. Come on, I'll introduce you”, Keith meant and grabbed Mick's hand, leading him to the workshop in the back room, where Johnny currently was working on a contrabass. 

“Ey, mate, you got a moment?”, Keith called to his friend over the noise of the grinding machine. When Johnny heard him, he put down the machine, pulling off his safety glasses and turned around towards them. 

“Oh hey”, he replied, a little astounded at the sight of Mick standing there in their work shop. 

“That's Johnny, he's one of my best friends and my business partner”, Keith explained to Mick, as Johnny walked over to them. 

“And this is Mick”, he told Johnny, as Mick offered him a handshake. 

“Hey, good to meet you, Keith's been telling me a lot about you”, Mick meant and Johnny started grinning. 

“And he's been talking about you basically non-stop recently”, Johnny returned with a smirk as Keith felt himself blushing and Mick gave him a slightly amused, but soft look. 

“Only good things, I hope?”, he joked, nudging Keith lightly with his elbow. 

“I don't know if you already noticed, mate...”, Johnny started, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes “...but he's totally smitten with you”, he added in a staged, amused whisper towards Mick, which made him smirk and blush as well.

“Johnny...”, Keith sighed in embarrassment and rolled his eyes at his friend. But Mick gently brushed the back of his hand with his own and gave him a sweet smile, letting him know it was alright. 

“Is it okay if we're going out to grab some lunch? I also promise not to be gone too long”, he meant then, thinking back of the last time where Johnny had been beyond annoyed with him for taking a too long lunch break with Mick. 

“Yeah, I'm good, as long as you're getting back here afterwards and don't run away with Mick to seduce him”, Johnny agreed with a teasing and dirty grin. 

“Johnny!” Keith all but cried out scandalised about his friend's comment, who was snorting with laughter and to his surprise, Mick was either. 

“Don’t worry, mate, I'll drop Keith back off in time, right after we made sweet love to each other”, Mick gave back, jokingly, winking at Keith, as they both watched Johnny’s face turn red in embarrassment. Keith laughed amusedly, still feeling a little flustered though, but seeing Johnny looking this sheepishly was totally worth it.

“Alright, let's go get some food now”, Keith finally decided before Johnny could say something to embarrass him even further. He so would get back to him about this…

“See you later!”, Johnny called after them, as they eventually left to grab some lunch. 

 

Keith had persuaded Johnny to look after Davie for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon, after closing down the shop, so he could drop by at Mick's place to jam. Obviously, he had to endure Johnny’s silly comment that jamming only was code for shagging. But he let him get away with it, glad that his friend had time and was willing to take care of his son for a while, because it meant that he could finally be completely alone and unbothered with Mick for the first time since their date the week before. 

Meeting him for lunch twice in just a couple of days had been really fun and they'd greatly enjoyed being able to at least see each other and get to talk for a bit. But it had become obvious relatively quickly to Keith that dating Mick, going out with another man, was completely different than seeing some girl. Nobody would look twice if he walked down the street, holding a girl’s hand, nobody would care if he kissed her goodbye, or if he wrapped an arm around her neck, pulling her closer to himself on a park bench, pressing a kiss to her cheek. 

With Mick he couldn't and didn't dare to do any of this, though. Some random pedestrians, who once noticed them embracing a little longer and a little more intimately than would have been appropriate for two lads who were just friends, had given them extremely disapproving, almost shocked looks. This had already been enough to tell Keith that they rather shouldn't publicly display anything which could get them into trouble with narrow minded people. After all, it still was illegal for two men to openly be together in public. 

They'd ended up talking about this for a bit when having lunch together for the second time that week. Mick had noticed Keith's thoughtful and annoyed look after some elderly man had glared at them almost angrily and outright disgusted. After having been with a few blokes before, Mick was used to this by now. It didn't mean he was alright with how things were, or had to be because of the law, but they both agreed that they should rather be careful when not in private. This didn't bother Keith too much, because he didn't see how it was anyone else's business what was going on between Mick and him. So obviously, they didn't have to prance around on the streets, portraying it for everyone out there to see, it wasn't really like them anyway. 

Still, it felt a little odd, however, basically having to hide their affection for each other. But Keith was sure that he'd be able to handle it, since he knew that nobody, who didn't matter anyway, would ever know and therefore would bother about what they were doing when alone. The only thing that they’d done so far, which - if it were up to him to decide - wasn't even worth causing potential outrage, was kissing each other at Mick's flat. There neither had been the time nor the opportunity to do anything other than that in the meantime. Hell, all of this was completely new for Keith and they barely had figured out for themselves what they actually were doing. So far, they were simply enjoying to spend all the time they could get together, going on little dates, even if it was just eating a tuna sandwich for half an hour between work. 

Keith was completely glad with how it was going, getting to know Mick better and better like this. He knew Mick was seeing it the same way, since he'd told him that he really loved how things currently were between them and that it made him totally happy because he just wanted to be with him. Easy as this, they'd established that they were dating, and Mick had half jokingly added that this meant Keith had a boyfriend now, which had made him blush heavily. But at the same time it had made him feel quite giddy, and if they hadn't been sitting on a park bench in the middle of a fairly crowded place, he totally would have kissed Mick. 

Keith was so excited to finally meet him again that day after work, that he could barely wait to get home with Johnny and Davie to grab his guitar and then get on his way over to Mick's place. 

“You don't need to take your guitar along as an alibi, we all know you're shagging anyway”, Johnny called after him. 

“Fuck off, John!”, Keith yelled back at him, already on the stairwell on his way down, flipping his annoying friend off before he left. 

On the tube over to where Mick was living, he wondered why Johnny always needed to behave like a 15-year old school boy and just rolled his eyes at him, because he probably would never change. He wasn't going to Mick's place with the intention of ending up in bed together, but the prospect of this eventually happening still made his nerves flutter with nervousness. However, he banned these thoughts to the back of his mind for now in order to not become completely flustered. By the time he arrived at Mick's flat, he just was really glad to finally be able to see him. 

“Hi there!”, Mick greeted him happily, opening the door shortly after he rang the bell and then stepped aside to let Keith in. 

“Hey”, Keith smiled at him, and barely had time to put his guitar bag down before Mick engulfed him in a tight embrace. 

He hugged him back, pleased that this time they weren't outside on the street and that it didn't matter now how closely he nuzzled his face against Mick's neck to breathe in the fresh scent of his perfume, or after-shave, or whatever he was wearing that made him smell this good. After a moment, Mick pulled away a little, but just enough to turn his head and press a small kiss onto his cheek first, before capturing Keith's lips with his own. Keith's heart almost skipped a beat at the sensation of Mick's soft lips upon his and as a content little sigh escaped him, Mick started grinning into the kiss, cupping his cheeks to pull him closer. 

“Hmm...I've waited all week to do that”, Mick meant with a smirk as he let go of him again, just to take his hand and lead him into the living room, while Keith chuckled lightly. 

They didn't start jamming and working on their song right away. First, Mick offered him some tea and custard cream biscuits and then wanted to play him a new record that he'd bought from the store this day. 

“We just got it in the new delivery today. It's the latest record by Pink Floyd and you totally gotta hear this, it's brilliant”, Mick explained, showing him the LP that spotted a triangle and some kind of rainbow shooting out of it, apparently something like a prism. 

“I like the artwork, it looks neat”, Keith commented, examining the cover as Mick put it on his record player. 

“Wait for the sound, it's pretty amazing”, Mick replied, grinning, as he flopped down on the couch next to Keith. 

Like this, they kept listening to the record, first just talking about which of the songs they liked and how it sounded really unique, before drifting off to other topics, like how their week went and what their plans for the weekend were. 

“Davie totally wants to go to the zoo again, he loved it so much”, Keith mentioned with a smile, taking another sip from his tea. “I told him we can go again next week, otherwise he might think it's something we'll do every weekend now”, he added, chuckling and Mick nodded in amusement. 

“Do you maybe have time to come along then?”, Keith wanted to know, looking at Mick expectantly. He was aware that this wasn't something Mick was used to, since he'd admitted that he never really dated someone before who already had kids. Then again, Keith had never dated a lad before, so he guessed they probably almost were even here. 

“So...you really want me to meet your son already?”, Mick asked back, sounding a bit surprised and the look in his eyes was somewhat insecure. 

“Yeah, of course I do”, Keith reassured him, giving him an encouraging smile. “Look...I really want you in my life, Mick. And Davie is the most important person to me, so of course I want you to meet him...and get to know this part of me too”, he meant and watched Mick's expression soften. 

“Alright, sure, I basically already told you I'll come along”, Mick agreed, giving him a sweet smile and slowly slipped his hand into Keith's, entwining their fingers. “I'm glad you want me to get to know Davie”, he said and Keith gently pressed his hand in reply, returning his smile.

“Is next Saturday okay?”

“Sounds about perfect”, Mick grinned and Keith leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek. 

“Thanks”, he mumbled, and Mick just smiled at him before laying a hand on his chin to gently pull him closer and spread some soft kisses on his cheek and jawline, ending at his lips. Keith let go of his hand to run it through Mick's hair as he kissed him back slowly. A warm feeling spread from his chest into his whole body and Mick wrapped his arms around him, leaning against him so that Keith ended up sliding down onto his back with Mick on top of him. In this position they were pressed against each other so tightly that Keith could feel Mick's increasing heartbeat against his own chest and the sensation made his head spin in a comfortable way. 

For a while they stayed lying on the couch, all entangled in each other, completely engulfed in their kisses. Some content sighs were escaping their mouths every now and again as hands were curiously roaming, trying to explore. Mick ran a hand over his ribcage down his sides to the hem of his t-shirt and slowly pushed it up so that he could gently touch Keith's lower belly. His breath hitched at the feeling of Mick's hand on his bare skin, as a pleasant shiver made his body tremble lightly. 

However, Keith turned his head, breaking away from the kiss they just shared instead of relishing this feeling. It was getting a little too much for him to handle, because he could already feel his blood rushing down to his groins and he knew if he didn't stop it now, it would get a little awkward soon. He clearly wasn't ready for this yet. It all had been amazingly pleasant up to this point, but he couldn't even let his thoughts wander further right now. Anything that involved getting out of his clothes, touching Mick, or being caressed by him in places no other person had touched him in for quite a while, made him pretty reluctant and a little uncomfortable. It wasn't only about Mick being a bloke, but after what happened with Helen, he'd gotten somewhat guarded and coy. Even if he was having feelings for Mick and really wanted to be with him. 

“What is it, are you okay?”, Mick asked carefully, staring at him with reddened cheeks and messed up hair. He looked amazingly adorable like this and Keith almost felt sorry to turn him down now. But it wouldn't be like this for too much longer. He just needed a little more time to sort things out for himself. 

“I...it's just...I'm sorry”, he mumbled, not able to directly look at him, as he was blushing, feeling somewhat ashamed about being that bashful. He wanted Mick, wanted to be with him, and eventually also sleep with him. Just not yet. 

“It's okay”, Mick reassured him and sat up between his legs. “It's fine, really...we don't have to do anything...not now.”

“I'm sorry’, Keith simply repeated, adjusting his position so that he was leaning on his elbows now. “I really want to be with you, Mick, I want you...it's just...this is too much right now...I'm sorry”, he got out, almost sighing in frustration about himself. But Mick ran a hand over his cheek softly, then lifted his chin up to make Keith look at him and smiled at him gently. 

“Keith, you don't have to be sorry about it. We will get to this...it doesn't have to be today, or tomorrow, or not even next week. That's alright with me...we can do something else in the meantime, come on, let's play some guitar, maybe put that song together!”, he meant, eagerly, all but jumped up from the couch and pulled Keith up as well, so they could finally jam together. 

 

In the past week, Mick had only been able to meet Keith once. They went out to have lunch together on Tuesday. There he'd told him that they had a really busy schedule for the upcoming days because they had been consulted to repair an organ at a church. It had to happen as soon as possible and required Keith and Johnny to be at the church instead of their shop, which their part-time assistant would run in the meantime. So obviously, he didn't have time to see him more often. Mick had naturally mentioned that it was alright, since Keith was doing his job after all, and told him that he was looking forward to see him and Davie on Saturday. He'd even been able to steal a little kiss from him after he'd walked him back to his shop, with Johnny being in the backroom workshop and nobody else there. That, and some time spent talking on the phone, had to be enough for the rest of the week. 

Mick was totally excited to go to the zoo with Keith and his boy this day, even though he also was a bit nervous about meeting Davie. Other than the kids of his bandmates Charlie and Bill, whom he sometimes got to be around, he didn't have that much experience with children yet. It was true that he once ditched a girl he was going out with after she told him she had two kids. Back then it had been a big no go, he just hadn't known how to handle it and rather decided to take the easy way out, even if that meant being a jerk. 

But he'd never even thought about doing anything like that with Keith. Admittedly, that day when Keith had told him that he was a single father, Mick had to restrain himself from panicking af first, but this feeling had left him pretty quickly. When Keith had showed him that picture of himself and Davie and talked about him all proudly and excited, Mick hadn't been able to feel anything but adoration and respect for Keith and how he was handling the whole situation of raising a toddler by himself. He'd accepted right then that if he wanted Keith, he only would get him together with Davie, that obviously went without saying. And surprisingly, by now this prospect wasn't even that frightening and impossible to handle anymore, compared to what it had seemed like a few years back. 

Mick hadn't been at Keith's place before, but since he had described it to him on the phone the night before, he had no problems finding his flat. After he rang the doorbell, it took Keith a little to open up, but when he spotted him standing on his doorstep, a smile appeared on his face.

“Hi”, Mick greeted him, mirroring his smile. 

“Hi there”, Keith replied as Mick stepped inside the flat and after closing the door, Mick wrapped his arms around his neck to pull him into a kiss that Keith eagerly returned. 

“I kinda missed you”, Keith confessed once he let go of him again and blushed lightly. “This week was crazy...” 

“I kinda missed you as well, Keith”, he admitted, a warm feeling spreading in his chest as Keith smiled at him sweetly at these words.

“Where is Davie?”, Mick wanted to know then, letting his gaze wander around.

“In the living room, playing with his toy blocks. I tried to put his shoes on, but he wouldn't have it right then. Recently he's throwing a fit sometimes, it's that age...”, Keith told him with a little sigh. 

“Well, maybe this could persuade him to let you put his shoes on”, Mick meant with a smirk, pulling a small plush toy in the form of a tiger out of his coat pocket. “You said he liked the tigers...I hope it's alright that I brought him a little something.” 

“Oh, you totally didn't have to! But thanks, it's really cute that you did remember that”, Keith gave back almost a little surprised and Mick was glad that he passed that little toy store every day on is way to work. So it really hadn't been a big deal picking the plush tiger out, and hopefully Davie would like it. 

“Don't mention it”, he just meant and affectionately nudged Keith with his elbow. 

“Come on, let's show it to Davie”, Keith suggested then and took Mick’s hand, leading him through his flat to the living room, passing the kitchen and bedroom in doing so. 

“Davie, hey, dad brought a friend over, do you want to meet him?”, Keith said to his little boy, who was sitting on the carpet in the middle of the living room, trying to stack his toy blocks, and sat down on the couch next to him. There were some other toys spread around the floor and a plush dinosaur lying on the couch. 

“Fend?”, Davie asked in his baby jabber, curiously looking up at Mick, who kneeled down on the carpet with him in order to talk to him. 

“Hey there little man”, Mick softly said, smiling at him lightly. Davie continued staring at him out of his big green eyes, still holding one of the wooden blocks. “I'm Mick. Your daddy's friend”, he explained to the toddler. 

“Fend”, he repeated, stacking the block onto the already existing pile, and Mick smirked. 

“Yeah, I'm coming to the zoo with you. To see these”, he meant, showing Davie the cuddly toy. His eyes seemed to get even bigger and he started babbling incomprehensibly, putting out his tiny hands to touch the plush animal. 

“Is woof?”, Davie said, excitedly, looking over to Keith, who chuckled. 

“No, no doggo”, Keith explained. 

“It's a tiger, like at the zoo”, Mick told him, happily watching as the little guy took the toy from him, examining it. 

“Tiga?” 

“Yeah, tiger”, Mick repeated, smiling widely and let his view wander over to Keith, who gave him a fond look. 

“Davie, say thank you to Mick, for the tiger”, Keith prompted his son, who only looked at him slightly confused. 

“Milk”, he brabbeld, petting the plush toy in his arms. 

“Mick. That's his name. Milk is what you drink”, Keith explained, winking at Mick who chuckled amusedly. 

“Mick?”, Davie asked then, lifting his gaze from the plush tiger to Mick who smiled at him lightly. 

“Yes! Say thank you to him”, Keith repeated, putting a hand on Davie's back. 

“Thank”, the little one got out, grinning at Mick happily which made him chuckle. 

“So now let's put your shoes on, then we can go see the real tigers, okay?”, Keith suggested to Davie, who only nodded, still too distracted by the toy. 

 

A little less than an hour later, after dressing up Davie and putting him into his buggy, they finally had made it to the zoo and currently were looking at the penguins waddling about on their rocks and jumping into the pool of water that was created around in their compound. Davie had jumped out of the buggy a while ago, and now Keith had to hold him so that he could see over the balustrade. 

“Penwens!!”, Davie yelled frolically, waving his little arms at them after Mick had told him that they are called penguins. “They bibs?”

“He means birds”, Keith clarified for Mick as he gave him a somewhat clueless look about Davie's baby babble. 

“Yeah but they don't fly. They can't”, Mick meant, smiling at how adorable the little one was. 

So far everything had went really great, Davie had played with the plush tiger and one of his other cuddly toys on the tube ride over to the zoo and seemed to be a quite even-tempered little guy. Even though Keith mentioned that he sometimes was being a bit difficult at the moment, but he still agreed that it could be way worse. Mick then had commented, sincerely, that it must be because he was doing a pretty good job at being a father, which had brought an honest smile to Keith's face. 

“No fly?”, Davie asked, sounding amazed, staring at him with his huge green eyes. 

“They swim in the water”, Keith explained to his son and pointed down at one that just had dived in. “Look, he's going for a swim!” 

“Bibs swim”, he called delightedly, watching the next one disappear into the pool. 

“Penguins do, yeah”, Keith agreed. “What do you want to see next, the dolphins?” 

“Tiga”, Davie said and Mick smirked at it. Of course, the tigers. 

“It still takes a while to get to the tigers. Let's see the dolphins first, shall we?”, Keith meant and put Davie back down so that he could walk on his own. 

Keith was holding him by the hand as Mick pushed the buggy along next to them. After a few metres, Davie grabbed Mick's trousers and dragged at them lightly.

“Milk”, he said, holding his little hand out, as Mick looked down to the toddler and it made both him and Keith chuckle lightly. 

“Mick”, he corrected him with a grin, as Davie kept nudging him with his small hand. 

“I think he wants you to take his hand”, Keith informed him, smirking and it made Mick smile because he was really touched and astounded that he would grow on Davie that easily and quickly. Actually he'd mostly been nervous to meet Davie because he remembered from Bill's kid how shy and reluctant the little one had been around him, and everyone else who weren't his parents, for quite a long time. Not really having much experience with kids, at first he'd thought that probably the child couldn't stand him, or he probably was handling him wrong, until Bill's wife had informed him that he just was a pretty sheepish baby. Davie, however, seemed to be really accostable and unreserved which made him incredibly adorable. 

“Come on, matey”, Mick meant, smiling lightly, holding out his and for Davie to take a hold of it, and with the toddler staggering on between him and Keith, they continued their way to the aquarium. 

Like this, they spent the whole afternoon walking from one animal compound to the next, seeing the dolphins first, then the crocodiles, flamingos and giraffes. Finally they made it to the tigers and Davie got extremely excited about them, even if they currently didn't do much more than lying around. 

“Baby tiga?”, Davie wanted to know, pointing at the small plush animal that Mick had brought him and that now was placed in the buggy. 

“Yeah, it's a baby tiger. But he stays that little, cause he's a special tiger. He's made for you to keep him with you and take care of him”, Keith told him, while Mick smiled about the endearing way Keith was interacting with his baby boy and it warmed his heart. He was incredibly glad that Keith had wanted him to come along and allowed him to get to know this side of him, the loving father that he was. 

“Baby tiga”, Davie repeated, wiggling around on Keith's arm until he put him down so that he could walk over to the buggy and get his toy tiger. 

After the tiger compound, they also passed the elephants, meerkats, llamas and many more animals, until Davie got so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open anymore in the end. As Mick was pushing him around in his buggy and he eventually fell asleep, they decided that it was time to head home again. 

 

Mick accompanied them to Keith's flat and watched him putting the little one down onto the couch, spreading a woolen blanket over him. 

“I'll let him rest for a while, then change him into his pyjamas and bring him to bed later, he's too exhausted to wake him now, this will just make him cranky”, Keith told him quietly as they went into the kitchen. 

“Do you want to have some leftover shepherd's pie with me?”, he asked him, opening the fridge to look for it. 

“I'd love to, but I don't really have time to stay that much longer. You know that the lads and I are meeting to practise some more songs for our gig tomorrow night...”, Mick explained apologetically. He really would have liked to stay a while longer, but Charlie would only get annoyed with him again if he showed up late and dragged things out until into the middle of the night. 

“But you need to eat something, Mick”, Keith tried and Mick smirked at it. 

“I'll buy a sandwich on the way over”, he meant with a shrug. 

“Let me make you one. Is tuna alright?”, Keith offered, looking into the fridge once more. 

“It's fine, you don't have to”, Mick placated almost coyly, even though he thought it was sweet of Keith to make sure that he got something for dinner. 

“It's no big deal, really”, Keith insisted and finally Mick agreed, sitting down at the kitchen table, as Keith started making some sandwiches. 

“Thanks for coming to the zoo with us today”, he meant as he was done wrapping them up for Mick and handed the bundle to him. “It really was a fun little trip, Davie loved it”

“Thanks for taking me along, I totally enjoyed it too. And Davie really is a bright little lad”, Mick answered, giving him a wide smile as they crossed the floor and then stopped at the door of the flat.

“He likes you. It's not that he's shy with new people or anything, but he really likes you, Mick, I could tell”, Keith mentioned, returning his smile. 

“He's adorable, you're being an amazing dad to him”, Mick said, watching Keith's expression turn all fond. 

“You were great with him either, I mean it”, Keith replied and Mick could actually feel his cheeks grow warm at this. 

“We should do this again”, he suggested then and Keith eagerly nodded, as Mick took hold of one of his hands, gently playing around with his fingers. 

“We totally will”, Keith grinned.

“I should get on my way…”, Mick said then, almost sighing. It always seemed like he never was having enough time with Keith. Even though they just spent the whole afternoon and early evening together, and had an absolutely fantastic time. But he wanted more, more time with him, more of Keith. 

“Pity…”, Keith meant, averting his gaze towards their now intertwined fingers. Mick figured he might be thinking the same thing, but didn't offer anything else. 

“You don't have time to come around to that pub tomorrow? It's just a little gig...won't take too long”, he suggested, even though he reckoned that Keith probably wouldn't be able to drop by since he obviously needed to take care of Davie. 

“I'll ask Johnny and then give you a call, alright?”

“Yeah, sure. I'd be happy to see you there, Keith”, Mick gave back and then let go of his hand to wrap his arms around Keith's neck to bring him closer. “Thanks for the sandwich by the way”, he grinned then and pecked Keith on the cheek, making him chuckle because it was such a silly little thing to say. 

“It's fine”, Keith only grinned, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, before Mick pulled him closer to be able to properly kiss him. The sensation of Keith's lips against his own made his heart race and as Keith slid his tongue into his mouth, a little sigh escaped him. He was so weak for this man, but he totally loved the way he made him feel. 

“Call me tomorrow?”, Mick asked as he finally let go of Keith again. 

It was quite unsatisfying, having to leave now after spending such a great time together, when all he actually wanted was to stay, get all cozy on the couch together, and just hold and kiss him. Mick was completely aware that he was so far gone already and utterly in love with Keith, but for once this realisation didn't frighten him. It only made him feel deeply content. 

“Of course”, Keith replied and Mick pressed some last little kisses to his lips before telling him goodbye and finally leaving to meet his bandmates. 

 

As it turned out, unfortunately Keith had to ring Mick up the next day and tell him that he couldn't come to the gig. Johnny was having a date with some girl he just met, while Ronnie and his girlfriend were out of town to visit her parents. He also couldn't ask the upstair neighbours’ 15-year old daughter, Hannah, who had jumped in a couple times for some pounds before, since it was a school night and he’d only be leaving at 8pm with no clue when he’d be back. 

“Hmm, bummer…”, Mick just replied on the telephone, actually sounding somewhat disappointed. 

“Maybe next time?”, Keith tried to sound cheerful, even though he hated having to put him off once again. But he couldn't simply take a two year old along to a rock gig at a pub. 

“You better, you still owe me a dance after all”, Mick gave back, an amused tone in his voice now and Keith was glad to hear that. 

“Is that so?”, he asked, grinning to himself as he remembered that conversation in Mick's living room a few weeks back. 

“I believe so, yeah”, Mick chuckled and it made him laugh, he loved their silly banter. 

“Do you want to come over and jam a little somewhen this week? Just on acoustic, though, cause of Davie…”, he suggested as kind of a small compensation. 

“Of course, I'd love to”, Mick agreed and Keith was almost sure he could hear him smile through the phone. At least he could imagine him leaning against the wall on the floor of his flat, phone receiver pressed to the ear, smiling widely. 

“Okay, awesome!”

“Are you still working on that church organ?, Mick wanted to know then. “Otherwise we could see each other for lunch...”

“Uh...it'll take us another day at least, maybe two”, Keith explained, thinking about what still needed to be done to get that organ properly working again. 

“Alright...will you give me a call tomorrow evening then?”

“Sure, yeah. Good luck with your gig tonight, Mick, have fun!”, Keith meant before hanging up. 

 

During the next two weeks, they actually managed to see each other for lunch a couple of times. Mick would stop by at Keith's shop twice, one time Johnny even accompanied them to the next pub and they all had their lunch break together. Once, when there wasn't that much to do, Keith also took the tube over to where Mick was working to see him during his break and they went on a little stroll through the streets, enjoying the nice warm day in early May. 

They also ended up jamming together twice, Mick stopped by at Keith's place on Wednesday right after work. They actually managed to finally finish that song Keith had dreamed up weeks ago and even were inspired for a completely new piece, a soft and lovely ballad.  
The other time was a Friday afternoon, exactly four weeks after their first date where Keith had taken Mick out to that Italian restaurant and they'd shared their first kiss later that night. 

“I’ve been working some more on that new song we recently came up with and I think it's good to go”, Mick told him as they were sitting around in his living room. Keith had literally bribed Davie's day nanny to take him for a couple hours longer just so that he could see Mick. And he even had more great news for him, since he'd successfully talked Ronnie into watching Davie the following night so that he could finally attend another one of Mick's gigs. But he hadn't told him yet because Keith figured that it would be more of a surprise if he just showed up at that club the next night. 

“You did? Let me hear!”, he smiled excitedly, plucking around on his acoustic guitar, playing the tune of the ballad that came to their minds after finishing that rock song. 

Mick started playing and Keith joined in at the second verse. It was indeed a truly lovely ballad, Mick had worked on the lyrics and they sounded amazingly beautiful now, longing, not too corny. It was about getting hurt by someone one used to love a lot and then meeting someone new, falling for them, pining for them, until in the end they finally were happy again. 

“It's so beautiful, I totally love it”, Keith commented, giving him a light smile. 

“You were my inspiration, actually…”, Mick acknowledged, not without blushing a little, and put his guitar down.

“I hoped it would be me and not somebody else”, he replied, jokingly, to cover up how touched he was by this confession and Mick grinned about it a little. 

“No, babe...it's just you and no one else”, Mick admitted then, biting his lip, looking at him quite coyly, but with overwhelming fondness in his eyes and Keith's heart almost skipped a beat at this. Recently, Mick had started using this term of endearment for him, which at first had made him get a little flustered, but by now it made him feel nothing but affection. 

“Thanks...you're so sweet”, he said softly, putting his guitar down to slide over and hug Mick tightly. “I'm flattered I could be an inspiration for you, Mick”, he mumbled close to his ear and then pressed a gentle kiss to his neck. 

“Would you want to sing this song on stage with me sometime?”, Mick whispered, running a hand through his hair, somewhat messing it up. 

“Tomorrow?”, Keith asked, leaning back a little to better be able to look at Mick. 

“Do you have time to be there tomorrow?”, he wanted to know, somewhat astounded. 

“It was supposed to be a surprise...but yeah, Ronnie comes over to look after Davie, so I'll be free tomorrow night”, he grinned at him and watched Mick's face lighten up with a wide smile.

“I'm okay to play it already tomorrow, so...if you're up for it?”, Mick meant, looking at him expectantly.

“Well, then better let's practise some more”, Keith said in reply and they both grinned at each other completely giddy and excited. 

 

The room in the club where the gig was taking place was small and sticky, but luckily there was still enough space to move comfortably. Keith was standing right in front of the tiny stage together with Johnny and Sam, enjoying what Mick and his three bandmates put on display. So far, it had been a mix of various rock and blues songs, some covers, others self-written. Keith was as stunned by the performance as he'd been that night about two months ago when he'd just met Mick and saw him on stage for the first time. 

On one hand, this evening seemed to be so long ago and he couldn't believe he'd already known Mick for two months and all the things that happened since. Back then, he never would have guessed that only a few weeks later, he'd end up in a relationship with him. Or that being with Mick made him feel as incredibly happy as he hadn't been in what appeared like years. By now, he wasn't all nervous and coy anymore, but mostly felt amazingly content and comfortable about being with him. Mick always was treating him wonderfully and was tremendously sweet, and Keith was completely in love with him. 

On the other hand, it had only been two months since they met, and even though he had been falling in love with Mick hard and fast, it still didn't really seem like that much time. But right then, watching Mick dance around on stage, playing the harp, while Keith was moving to the rhythm of the music himself, he couldn't care less about that. He was in love with this beautiful, talented man and he knew Mick felt the same way about him. And this was all that mattered to him. 

“This next song is our second to last already”, Mick told the cheering audience. “It's a rock tune by Chuck Berry, called Bye Bye Johnny and I wanna see you all dance now”, he added, grinning, and then directly looked at Keith, like he'd done so many times throughout the gig, winking at him. Keith grinned back at him and wasn't even surprised at all, as Mick eventually jumped off the stage during the song, grabbing his hands. 

“May I?”, he yelled over the music, ecstatically smiling at him and of course, Keith agreed to dance some rock'n'roll with him, while Johnny and Sam did the same next to them. Keith was smiling frolically at Mick the whole time and he looked back at him as excited and amazed as Keith felt himself. It was incredibly fun and the rhythm was fast, making them get quite a little breathless. 

As the song ended, Mick hugged him shortly. “You still up for it, right?”, he asked him, his lips almost touching Keith's ear, but he still had trouble understanding him over all the applause of the crowd around them. 

“Sure!”, he yelled back. Mick obviously was referring to them singing the last song together, as they'd agreed upon the day before. They'd practised it a couple of times and Keith felt content now that he'd be able to pull it off. Even though he had to admit that he was a little nervous about getting up on stage, since he hadn't played a gig in a while. But he’d go through with it for Mick, he'd promised him after all. 

Mick patted his back, showing him a thumbs up, before hopping back onto the stage, walking over to the mic stand. 

“Whoo….that got quite a little heated, don't you think?”, he said to the audience, some people cheered and whistled. 

“To calm down again...we got a bit of a slow tune for you now. It's a ballad that I wrote together with a good friend of mine who's here tonight to help me sing”, he explained and then walked over to the edge of the stage, holding a hand out for Keith to pull him onto the stage. 

“This is Keith...he wrote the next and final song with me...yes, yes, you can cheer...give it up for him, please”, Mick talked into the mic, smirking, one hand on Keith's back, as Keith was blushing slightly due to all the attention he was getting all of a sudden.Then he introduced the rest of the band, all of them getting a round of applause, before leaving the stage to grab a drink. Mick and him would play alone, just with their acoustic guitars, so he went over to the side of the stage to grab another acoustic guitar and handed it to Keith. 

The feeling of being on a stage again, playing music in front of an audience, after such a long time was incredible. He hadn't done so in over a year and Keith had to admit that it made his blood rush in excitement. It was just him and Mick and their acoustic guitars, while the other guys were standing at the side of the stage with some drinks. This was as simple and down to earth as it could get and Keith actually could feel his nerves now. He hadn't done that much singing before, just some background vocals. 

But Mick had assured him more than just once before that he absolutely loved his singing voice. And this was all he needed to hear, because if he was being honest, except for Johnny and Sam in the audience, and maybe the other lads from Mick's band, he didn't care about what any of these people thought of him. He was doing this because Mick had asked him to, and because he knew it would be fun, and because he wanted to have this experience with Mick, performing their self-written song with him on stage together. 

Mick was the only one who mattered to him right now and it also became obvious in the way they were performing their song. It was completely heartfelt and raw, and Keith could swear that he felt every single one of the emotions he was singing about while his eyes were fixed on Mick's for a lot of the time. Most of all, he felt deeply connected to him, and if he hadn't been aware of this before, by now he'd be absolutely certain that he completely adored and loved this man. Mick was standing a few feet away from him, but they kept looking at each other throughout the whole song, and it felt like they actually were acting out that whole pining for each other part that Mick wrote about in the lyrics. Keith wanted to go over there, touch and kiss him so badly, but of course he couldn't. So he gave Mick a sweet smile during the instrumental bridge which he returned with tenderness.

Towards the end of the song, Mick put away his guitar, and finally made his way over to Keith. Like this, they were singing into the same mic, leaning together so closely that their foreheads were touching. Keith almost forgot to keep on playing guitar as Mick wrapped an arm around his shoulders, bringing them together even closer. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears and it was getting increasingly tough to still focus on the refrain of the song that was repeated two times before it faded out. Mick was smiling at him lovingly and Keith once more silently cursed the fact that they were on stage in front of at least 80 people, because otherwise he definitely would have kissed Mick right then. 

He knew very well that it wasn't possible, though and so they just finished playing their song, the crowd erupting into loud cheers around them. But Keith didn't focus on any of it, all he saw was Mick and he pushed the guitar down behind his back, before Mick engulfed him in a gentle embrace, his lips shortly brushing Keith's cheek, then he nuzzled his face against his neck. 

“Thanks for doing this with me, love”, he softly whispered close to his ear and a pleasant shiver run down Keith's spine at the sensation of Mick's lips against his skin and that new term of endearment that he hadn't used before. 

“Always”, he simply replied, before Mick patted his back lightly and let go of him again to thank the audience for coming there that night. Keith was smiling giddily, about all the applause they were getting, and also about Mick taking his hand as they were bowing once, before leaving the stage. 

“God, you were so bloody amazing right there”, Sam commented a while later as they'd helped packing up the equipment and went over to their friends at the bar to have a pint with them. “You should add more acoustic songs...I loved the way your voices sounded together”, she added as she first hugged Mick and then Keith. 

“Yeah it really was pretty great”, Johnny agreed, grinning. “It also looked like you were about to undress each other with your eyes”, he added in a quieter voice, but not less amusedly and Keith heavily blushed, while Mick choked on his beer. 

“As if you didn't do the same with Sam...yes, I saw that earlier”, Keith replied mischievously after he'd patted Mick on the back and he'd stopped coughing. He still had his arm draped around his shoulders and Mick slightly leaned against him. 

Johnny just chuckled upon this comment and winked at Sam who only rolled her eyes at him. 

“She's a tease”, Mick silently whispered only for Keith to hear and he smirked. “Well, so are you”, he deadpanned and Mick just grinned. 

“Keith?”, Mick silently asked, as Johnny just suggested to Sam to go outside and have a smoke, which surprisingly, she accepted. 

“You guys coming too?”, Sam wanted to know, but Mick shook his head.

“Nah, you go, see you then”, he meant and she just shrugged, before following Johnny to the back door. 

“What did you want to say?”, Keith wanted to know then. They still were leaning closely together, even though the music that was being played now wasn't that loud as to justify it, but they didn’t care. Mick started nestling around with Keith's t-shirt, his light touch almost tickling him.

“I wanted to kiss you so badly up there on stage...and I still really want to kiss you right now”, Mick whispered into his ear, wrapping his other arm around Keith's waist, as Keith just grinned and nodded in agreement because it was the same for him. 

“Do you want to get out of here and finally be just by ourselves?”, Mick asked then. 

The tone of his voice was clearly suggestive, but he looked at Keith almost carefully. He was aware that Mick was implying that he wanted him, wanted to sleep with him. They still hadn't crossed that line yet. There simply hadn't been the right time yet. The day before, when jamming together, they'd ended up making out on Mick's couch once more, until Keith remembered that he already was way too late for picking up Davie from the day nanny. So Mick had let him leave, both of them quite dissatisfied with the situation. Now there wasn't anything that would disturb them, however. And even though Keith could feel himself getting fairly nervous just about the prospect of sleeping with Mick, by now it didn't make him get all flustered anymore, just excited in a nice and positive way. 

“To your flat?”, is all he could think of saying and Mick gave him a cute smile, nodding in agreement. 

On the tube over to Mick's place, Keith had slung an arm around his shoulders again and Mick was leaning his head against him, playing around with the lapel of his black leather jacket. The few people that were on the carriage with them, didn't pay attention to any of this, and Keith was glad about it. He didn't want to let go of Mick right now, not even for only just a moment. However, two stops before they had to get off, some middle aged woman sat down across from them, and Mick stopped his fidgeting, letting his hand fall into his lap. He didn't lift up his head from Keith's shoulder though, neither did Keith take his arm away. They just waited and observed what would happen. 

“My mate here had a few pints to many, gotta get him home safely”, Keith meant, as the woman kept staring at them and he started to feel somewhat uncomfortable because he had no clue what she was making of it. But she just nodded at them, and then the tube finally stopped at their station, so they got out as quickly as possible. 

“So, I’m your drunk mate now?”, Mick inquired on the short walk to his flat, not able to restrain himself from chuckling. 

“She was staring at us in an odd way”, Keith justified himself, but he was laughing about it as well. 

“I don't give a damn...it's not like we’re ever seeing her again”, Mick commented boldly and wrapped his arm around Keith's waist once more. He chuckled and pulled him closer against his side. It was dark and the streets were almost empty. Mick was right, none of these people did matter. 

“Maybe next time I should tell them you're my sweet and beautiful boyfriend”, he said still in a joking voice, but he pressed a little kiss to Mick's temple to tell him he meant it. 

 

Eventually, they reached Mick's flat and Keith had to let go of him so that he could unlock and open the door. As soon as they’d stepped inside, though, Keith grabbed Mick by his jacket and pulled him in for a long kiss. He quietly sighed as Mick’s lips finally touched his own, and he kissed Keith almost hungrily, digging a hand into his hair to bring him closer. After they kissed like this for a while, all heated and demanding, they had to break apart to catch a breath. Mick then pressed some short, lighter kisses to his mouth, wrapping his arms around Keith's neck. 

“Do you want a drink?”, Mick asked him, but Keith shook his head. He could feel his nerves again and probably a drink would help calming him down, but he didn’t want a drink now, didn't want to get intoxicated. 

“Can we...listen to some music?”, he returned instead, sounding almost insecure. 

“Of course”, Mick agreed, kissing him on the cheek. “But let's get out of these jackets first, shall we?”, he added, chuckling lightly, and in this moment Keith realised that Mick was nervous as well. Maybe less than he was himself, but he definitely wasn't as chill as he’d seemed all the time before. Keith thought it was incredibly adorable. 

As they'd finally taken off their jackets, Mick led him over to the living room to put on a record with some slow music. Since Keith was still standing around, just looking at him, his mouth too dry to formulate any sentence, Mick walked over to him, embracing him gently. They ended up slow dancing and Keith was pleasantly reminded of the night of their first date. Mick was running his hands over his back in soft circles and Keith started pressing some light kisses to his neck, before Mick cupped his cheeks and locked his lips with his own in a passionate kiss. 

“Should we move this to the bedroom?”, Mick wanted to know after a while, sounding quite breathless as he looked at him softly. Keith was gasping for air as well, and started to feel really warm, even though he just was wearing a t-shirt. 

“Okay, yeah”, he agreed, nodding lightly, as his heart was beating fast against his ribs and his mouth turned so dry that he had to swallow hard. 

Mick took his hand, pressing a little kiss on it, before entwining their fingers and then led him out of the living room and over to his bedroom. There he turned on only the standard lamp in the corner, which spread its warm orange light dimly in the room, bathing it in a comfortable atmosphere. He then proceeded to kick off his shoes and Keith did the same, chuckling nervously as he looked over to Mick who now was sitting on the foot end of his bed. 

“Come here”, Mick prompted him with a little smile, holding a hand out to him. Keith took it and Mick pulled him onto his lap, so that he was straddling him. “Are you okay?”, he asked him then, looking up at him cautiously. 

“I'm fine...it's just...nerves”, Keith returned, smirking coyly. 

“I know”, Mick laughed a little. “Me too.”

“But you've done this before”, he meant, almost incredulously. 

“I know”, Mick repeated and then grinned sheepishly. “But it wasn't like that...none of them was you, Keith...I'm so much in love with you”, he explained, his voice stained with emotion and Keith could see overwhelming tenderness in his eyes. 

“I'm so much in love with you too, Mick”, he admitted, giving him a loving smile, before kissing him gently. 

Mick shifted back on the bed, without breaking away from the kiss, pulling Keith down with him so that he now was lying on top of him, their legs getting entangled. They kept kissing slowly and delicately for a while, lightly rocking against each other, content little sighs escaping their mouths. Keith ran a hand over Mick's chest almost lazily and then started unbuttoning his black shirt, as Mick slid a hand under his t-shirt, running it over his sides and up his back. His touch on Keith's heated skin felt amazing and it made him shiver slightly. Eventually, as Keith was done unbuttoning Mick's shirt, he stopped kissing him and sat up a little to pull his own t-shirt over his head. Mick leaned onto his elbows, as Keith was sitting between his legs, and then slowly pushed his shirt off his shoulders, helping him out of it. 

“You're so beautiful...”, Keith told him sincerely, taking in Mick's bare upper body. He was slender, almost bony, but still very well defined, and his skin was pale, lighter than Keith's, and pristine. It felt soft under Keith's gentle touch, and he could clearly see Mick getting some goosebumps in anticipation, as he let his hand wander over his abs down to his lower abdomen. 

“Thanks, babe”, Mick blushed lightly, as he himself stretched out a curious hand to lightly run it over Keith's chest and belly, making Keith tremble in excitement as well. “You're really handsome yourself”, he added with a smirk and then pulled him back down with him, as Keith trailed little kisses along his jawline and started sucking on his neck a bit. It made a small moan escape from Mick’s mouth, as he craned his neck back and Keith grinned against his soft skin upon eliciting this reaction from him. 

As they kept kissing softly, nibbling at each other's skin, rubbing their hands against delicate spots, Keith could feel how his blood was rushing to his groins and he slowly started getting hard. Mick apparently noticed too, because he grinned into the kiss they just shared, letting a hand slide down to his lower belly, running it along the waistband of his jeans, which made Keith sigh contently. 

“We should get you out of these, they're seeming a little tight”, Mick smirked at him, pecking his lips.

“And you”, Keith replied, chuckling lightly, as he started to feel Mick's own arousal pressing against his thigh. They sat up, helping each other struggle out of their jeans, so that they were both left in just their underpants. As Keith’s eyes inevitably wandered down, spotting the obvious bulge in Mick's pants, he blushed visibly, and shifted his gaze back to his chest. Sitting on Mick's bed together, both of them almost naked and already quite excited, probably wasn't the best moment for Keith to slightly start panicking again about the fact that he’d never slept with a man before. But he just couldn't help himself and nervously started nestling around on the bed sheet. 

“Hey”, Mick softly said as he noticed Keith’s nervousness and gently put a hand on his shoulder. “Come here”, he meant, wrapping his arms around Keith's back and then slowly laid both of them down on their sides so that they were facing each other. He then pulled the blanket over them as if they just were lying down to sleep and edged a little closer, before laying a hand on Keith's cheek, softly brushing it with his thumb. 

“Are you nervous?”, Mick asked him in a quiet tone, continuing to softly run his thumb over his cheek. Keith only nodded, not knowing what else to say.

“Do you want to do this...make love?”, he further inquired in a soft voice, keeping his gaze fixed on Keith's, who could see nothing but deep affection in Mick’s blue eyes. Keith was touched by the way Mick had formulated his question. He didn't ask him if he wanted to sleep with him, or have sex with him. He asked him to make love to him, which for Keith sounded way more appropriate, considering the nature of their relationship, the beautiful connection they shared, and the love and respect they had for each other.

“Of course, I want to...I want you, Mick. I really do...it's just...I don't know, I never did this with a man…”, he got out, stammering and somewhat flustered, blushing in embarrassment. Sheepishly, he averted his gaze, questioning why he was acting like a teenage boy. 

“Hey, it's fine...it's alright, love”, Mick calmed him down, lifting up his chin and pressing a little kiss to his lips. “That's alright, you don't have to be nervous about it...I can show you”, he said, kissing him lightly once more. 

“Let me show you?”, Mick asked then, tracing his lips with his index finger and Keith nodded once again. He really wanted this, it wasn't like he still wasn't ready, he was just agitated about doing something he'd never done before. But he really wanted to make love to Mick, because he totally was in love with him and wanted to go this next step with him. 

“Alright”, Mick smiled at him fondly and leaned in for another short kiss that Keith returned, trying not to think too much. In contrast to him, Mick knew what he was doing and Keith trusted him completely. 

“Do you want me to take you, babe? I'll be gentle, I promise...it might be a little unfamiliar at first...but I wouldn't hurt you”, Mick said then, softly touching his chest, drawing little patterns there. 

“I trust you, Mick”, he whispered, running his hand over his cheek lightly, down to the crook of his neck, resting it there. Mick gave him an affectionate smile upon hearing this and pressed some tender kisses to his face. 

“I'll be gentle with you, love...you don't need to worry”, Mick reassured him again and Keith smiled at him lovingly, before he pulled him in for a passionate kiss. Mick deepened the kiss, leaning against him so that Keith ended up on his back with Mick lying on top of him. The sensation of his bare, heated skin on his own made Keith sigh into their kisses, as their hands were roaming over each other’s body. 

Feeling Mick bucking his hips against him, his crotch pressed against Keith's own, didn't take him long to grow hard again and so did Mick. He dragged a hand down Keith's belly until he reached the waistband of his underpants and then carefully dipped a finger inside, brushing against his tip. Keith's breath hatched even though Mick had barely touched him yet and he eagerly pressed himself against his hand, trembling lightly as Mick slipped his fingers further into his pants and rubbed his thumb over him. 

“Hmm, you're so hard already”, Mick chuckled against his neck, as Keith blushed a tad. Mick's voice was clearly stained with excitement and then he sat up a little, the blanket sliding down from his shoulders. “Let's finally take of these pants, shall we?”, he suggested with a grin and Keith smirked back, nodding in agreement, before Mick slowly started to pull his pants down and Keith kicked them away with his foot. 

“Like what you see?”, Keith grinned at him as he noticed Mick outrightly staring down at him with misty eyes. 

“You're so gorgeous”, Mick replied, wetting his lips with his tongue and Keith chuckled about Mick being this flustered. He then lightly trailed his fingers over Keith's thigh, before quickly taking off his own underpants. Keith couldn't help himself but to curiously prop up on his arm to look down to Mick and see what he got there. Mick obviously observed his move, chuckling at him.

“What?”, he asked, almost daring, but clearly amused and Keith chuckled as well instead of replying, before Mick leaned back down to him, engulfing him in a passionate kiss. He then trailed a line of little kisses from Keith's throat to his collarbones, where he nibbled lightly at his skin, making Keith sigh contently. Mick then slid further down, settling between Keith's legs as his lips wandered over Keith's belly and all the way down to his lower abdomen. His lips lightly touching Keith's skin, made him buck up his hips a little, because he wanted to feel Mick so desperately where he needed it the most. As Mick started kissing the inside of his thigh next, Keith couldn't stop an almost frustrated sigh from escaping him. 

“What is it, babe?”, Mick asked, looking up at him and Keith could clearly hear the amusement in his voice, as Mick almost absent-mindedly dragged his fingers over his thighs. 

“You're a bloody tease, you know that?”, he meant, but couldn't keep himself from chuckling at it as he lifted his head up to look at him. 

“I'm just trying to make things a little more fun”, Mick meant, giving him a grin, as he started to run just one finger up and down Keith's length. A bloody tease. 

Keith only got out an undefinable muffle, letting his head drop back onto the pillow, as Mick went back to kissing the inside of his thigh. When he finally started using his mouth on him, Keith let out a stifled moan. The sensation of Mick caressing him like this was incredibly amazing and he couldn’t do else but dig a hand into Mick's hair to keep him right there. After a while, though, Mick stopped his teasing and scooted back up, kissing his neck instead, much to Keith's displeasure. 

“What are you doing?”, he wanted to know almost disappointed, and it made Mick laugh lightly against his neck.

“Hmm...don't want this to finish yet, do you?”, he just gave back, smirking and Keith obviously couldn't argue with that. Instead, he slid his hand down between their bodies, until he could feel Mick's tip and slowly started stroking him. His touch upon him made Mick momentarily forget to suck on Keith’s neck and a little groan escaped him. Keith smirked contently at this and pulled Mick closer by the back of his neck in order to kiss him. For a while they kept just kissing demandingly and stroking each other lightly, until Mick broke away, trying to catch a breath, before searching for Keith's eyes. He smiled at him lovingly, running his hand over Keith's cheek. 

“Are you okay to do this?”, he wanted to know in a soft voice, stroking some of Keith's hair out of his face, as he sat up a little.

Keith nodded in reply. “I really want you”, he got out, his voice clearly tainted with arousal and Mick smiled at that. 

“Alright, love”, Mick returned, kissing him gently. “I've got some massage oil here...it'll make it more comfortable”, he added, reaching out an arm to his bedside table to pull a little bottle out from there. 

“Should I...turn around?”, Keith asked, insecurely, watching Mick open the bottle. 

“No, don’t”, Mick replied, shaking his head as if to underline his statement. “No, love...I don't like it that way”, he explained, putting the bottle down for a moment in order to lean closer to Keith and pecked his lips. “I want to be able to kiss you...and see your face”, he told him sincerely, pressing another short kiss to his lips. “It's more beautiful like this.” Keith nodded in agreement and kissed him back, as Mick reached for the oil bottle again. He then proceeded to press some of it onto the palm of his hand, before rubbing it between his fingers for a bit. 

“It might be a little cold”, he said, almost apologetically and pressed another small kiss to Keith's mouth before settling between his spread legs. As Mick started preparing him, his fingers moving slowly, carefully, Keith's breath stocked upon the unfamiliar sensation and he pressed his eyes shut. 

“It's okay, babe...it'll feel better soon, promise”, Mick meant, apparently realising how tense he had become. After some moments, he removed his fingers and leaned over him again, kissing his cheek. 

“You ready?”, he wanted to know, looking at him carefully and Keith only nodded in reply. Mick kissed him passionately then, shifting between his legs, somewhat lifting one of them up. In the next moment, Keith could feel Mick's tip lightly press against him as he started rocking against him a little. Then he carefully started to slip inside him, moving slowly, but Keith still tensed up again at the odd feeling and Mick stopped in his movement. 

“Are you okay?”, he wanted to know, the look in his eyes considerate, one of his hands stroking over Keith's chest calmingly. 

“It's just...I'm not used to it”, Keith got out, pretty flustered and Mick nodded in understanding. 

“It'll be fine, love”, he offered, leaning in for another kiss, as he gently slipped further inside him. Keith wrapped his arms around Mick's back, focusing on the kiss, on the soft feeling of Mick's lips against his own and the way he tasted when Keith slid his tongue into his mouth. Soon, Mick adjusted his position a little and then started to slowly thrust into him, trying to find a pace that felt best for both of them. 

“Good?”, he asked him after a moment, his lips close to Keith's ear. 

“Good”, is the only thing Keith could give back, before he moaned in pleasure as Mick was hitting a spot inside him that made him feel things he'd never experience before. It was an incredible sensation, being connected to Mick like this, feeling his body pressed tightly against him, feeling him inside him, tasting his kisses. Mick was all he could sense and feel and hear and with every fiber of his body he loved this man. When not kissing him, Mick made sure to lock his eyes with Keith's, smiling at him in pure affection, as he interwined their fingers of one hand. It was more than just fine, it was incredibly sweet and overwhelmingly beautiful and Keith hadn't even known until right then how much he wanted this, how badly he wanted Mick. They were making love to each other because they were so deeply in love with each other and it wasn't comparable to anything he'd felt or experience before because it was so much different but nevertheless it was completely incredible and Keith couldn't get enough of it. 

As Mick wrapped a hand around him, stroking and teasing him again, he knew that like this he wouldn't make it much longer, it just felt too good. Mick's thrusts had gotten deeper, also a little faster, which he greatly enjoyed, it made him become almost ecstatic and he could already feel hot pressure building up inside him. As he finally came, he almost cried out in delight, pulling Mick close to him, gripping him tightly and burying his face at the crook of his neck, as he was trembling, completely overwhelmed by his feelings. Mick didn't take that much longer to finish off himself and as he came inside Keith, which was another unfamiliar sensation for him, he gently bit down on his shoulder, probably leaving a small mark there. 

He could feel Mick shaking for a little while longer, after he'd slumped down on top of him. They were both panting for air and Keith was still trembling lightly as he exhaustedly ran a hand through Mick's damp hair. They stayed lying like this for a while until they could finally catch a breath again. Keith could still feel Mick inside him, but he gently slid out of him after another moment and laid beside him. Then he pulled up the blanket loosely around them, before resting his head against Keith's shoulder, pressing a soft kiss there. It felt simply wonderful to be lying there with Mick, wrapped up so closely, after what they'd just done.

“This was incredible...I really loved it a lot”, Keith confessed as he finally had calmed down enough and wrapped an arm around Mick. He felt amazingly content and almost at peace now, but also pretty tired and worn out. It truly had been incredible, Mick had made him feel things he'd never felt before and it was mesmerizing.

“Me too, it was so beautiful...I love you, Keith”, Mick whispered, leaning up to look him in the eyes. He smiled at him fondly and caressed his cheek. 

“And I love you, Mick”, Keith gave back, smiling widely, before Mick’s lips touched his own in a loving little kiss. He then rested his head back against Keith's shoulder, draping an arm over his chest and cuddled up like this, their legs entwined, they eventually drifted off to sleep.


End file.
